Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Harvard Divinity School
Ghevond's Text of the Correspondence between 'Umar II and Leo III
Author(s): Arthur Teffery
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Harvard Theological Review , Vol. 37, No. 4 (Oct., 1944), pp. 269-332
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1508294
Accessed: 26/02/2013 01:21
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http ://www.j stor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms .j sp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Cambridge University Press and Harvard Divinity School are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to The Harvard Theological Review.
STOR
http ://www.j stor.org
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT OF THE CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN ‘UMAR II AND LEO III
ARTHUR JEFFERY
Columbia University
There is a persistent tradition in the Eastern Christian
Churches, often referred to by Oriental Christians even at the
present day, to the effect that early in the Vlllth century there
was an exchange of letters on the question of the respective
merits of Christianity and Islam, between the Umayyad Caliph
‘Umar II (717-720) and the Byzantine Emperor Leo III, the
Isaurian (717-741), in which the Emperor gloriously refuted
the claims of Islam. If this is so, it will represent one of the
earliest documents in the Muslim- Christian Controversy known
to us. Carl Gliterbock rightly states that the beginnings of
literary discussions concerning Islam among the Greeks can be
traced back to the middle of the Vlllth century, when Leo III
was succeeded by his son Constantine V (741-775), 1 but he be-
gins his account of the Byzantine polemists with John of
Damascus (f754) and his pupil Theodore Abu Qurra (c. 825).
A polemical epistle of Leo III to ‘Umar must have been written
before 720, and would thus be earlier than any known Byzantine
tractate on this controversy.
We have notices of this correspondence in various sources.
The Byzantine Chronographer Theophanes (f818), writing of
the second year of the Caliphate of ‘Umar, 2 the year when there
was a great earthquake in Syria, and when ‘Umar was making
great efforts to have the Christians of his realm accept Islam, 3
1 Der Islam im Lichte der byzantinischen Polemik, Berlin, 1912, pp. 7, 8.
2 Chronographia, ed. de Boor, 1883, I, 399.
3 Eastern Christian writers often speak of ‘Umar’s severity with the Christians.
Michael Syrus XI, 19 (pp. 455, 456 of the text) tells at length how ‘Umar legislated to
ease the position of those who were willing to become Muslims, and to increase the
disabilities of those who were unwilling to accept Islam. See also Barhebraeus’ MakhtS-
bhanuth Zabhne, p, 117 (ed. Bedjan, Paris, 1880). But note Wellhausen’s rejoinder in
Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz, pp. 187 ff.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
270
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
says — “he also sent a theological epistle to the Emperor Leo,
thinking that he might persuade him also to accept Islam/’ a
statement which is repeated in much the same words by Cedre-
nus (c. 1100) in his Historiarum Compendium. The Syrian
writer Mahbub, Bishop of Manbij (Hierapolis), better known
under his Westernized name Agapius, writing in the middle of
the Xth century his Arabic World History, the Kitab al-‘Unwan,
not only knows of ‘Umar’s letter attacking the Christian re-
ligion and calling on Leo to become a Muslim, but knows also
that the Emperor replied to it, refuting the Caliph’s arguments,
proving to him the perversity of his own Muslim beliefs, and
demonstrating the truth of Christianity from the Scriptures,
the laws of reason, and the testimony of the Qur’an itself. 4
Further, in Armenian literature, besides the account of Ghe-
vond, with which we shall be concerned presently, and in which
we are presented not only with a precis of the letter of the
Caliph, but also with what purports to be the complete text of
Leo’s reply, we have references to the correspondence in three
later writers. Thoma Ardzruni (c. 936) in his History, 5 and
Kirakos of Gandzac (fl272) in his History of Armenia, 6 both
tell us that Leo’s reply was so full of sagacity as to put to shame
the Caliph, so that he set about reforming many abuses among
the Muslim people, and from that time on showed a much more
benevolent spirit towards the Christians of his realm. Finally,
Vartan (fl272) in his Universal Llistory, 7 mentions ‘Umar’s
enquiry as to the seventy- two sects of the Christians, and
quotes Leo’s reply thereto. All three, however, may be depend-
ent on Ghevond, whose account, in any case, is the earliest and
the fullest.
There is no a priori ground for rejecting the possibility of such
an exchange of letters between the two potentates. No one
familiar with the Arabic accounts of ‘Umar’s reign would find
anything strange in the story of such a letter to the Byzantine
4 Kitab al-‘Unwan, ed. A. Vasiliev in Patr. Orient. VIII, 3 (Paris, 1912), p. 503.
5 Patmoui Arcroumeac ’i 5 girs camn 996 (History of the Ardzrunids to 996 in 5
Books), ed. Constantinople, 1852, p. 116; ed. St. Petersburg, 1887, p. 105.
6 Patmoutiun iuroy zamanakim vasn arsauanac Tatarac (History of his own
Times and the Invasion of the Tatars), ed. Venice, 1865, p. 37.
7 Text in Muyldermans, La Domination arabe en Armenie, Paris, 1927, pp. 52, 53.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
271
Emperor. ‘Umar’s zeal for the propagation of Islam was as
noteworthy as that of Leo for propagating a pure and unde-
filed Christianity. The Muslim accounts of this Caliph’s reign
abound in eulogies of his piety and his interest in religion,
which he was eager to spread even at the expense of the Treas-
ury. His instructions to his Governors in Khurasan to ease the
conditions as to tribute, a move which led to the people of that
area flocking into Islam, are famous, 8 and he apparently tried
the same move in Spain, and when it failed sought to reduce
the influence of the Spanish Christians by dividing up their
lands. But even more famous is his retort to an official who
objected that these numerous conversions, by reducing the
numbers of the non-Muslim body which supplied the tribute,
were adversely affecting the Treasury, that Allah had sent His
Prophet as a Missionary not as a Tax-collector. That he was
given to writing epistles in the interests of his propaganda for
Islam, is also clear. We find accounts of how he wrote to the'
Princes of Transoxiana, inviting them to accept Islam; of how
he addressed a rescript to the Kings of Sindh, to whom he
promised all the privileges and immunities of Arabs if only they
would become Muslims; and of how he had great success with
the letters he wrote to urge the Berbers of North Africa to ac-
cept Islam.
That he was actually in correspondence with the Byzantine
Empire is likewise evident, though this correspondence was in
another connection. In the Kitab al-Aghanl we have the text
of a letter he sent to the Muslim prisoners at Qustantinlyya,
who had been taken in the wars with the Byzantines, consoling
them in their affliction, and assuring them of his care for their
families at home, while Baladhuri, in his account of Latikieh,
which was attacked and destroyed by a Byzantine raid about
718 ( = 100 A.H.), tells how ‘Umar sent to the Greek Emperor
( Tdghiyah ) asking to be allowed to ransom the Muslim captives
taken there. This was not religious correspondence, but all
that we learn from Muslim sources about ‘Umar favors the
possibility of such a correspondence.
8 Tabari, Annales, II, 1354; Ibn al-Athir Kamil, ed. Tornberg, V, 37.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
272
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
Nor is it difficult to believe that Leo should write, or have
written in his name, a reply to such a letter from the Caliph.
His interest in the promotion of the Christian religion is one of
the outstanding features of his reign. His activities in connec-
tion with the iconoclastic controversy need not be more than
mentioned, but he was also active in promoting the baptism of
Jews and Montanists, and not always, perhaps, by the most
reputable methods. That he too indulged in lengthy corre-
spondence on points of theological disputation, is clear from
his correspondence with Pope Gregory II in Rome, in one of
which letters, indeed, he claims to be priest as well as Em-
peror.
Leo’s relations with Muslim peoples had begun long before
his elevation to the imperial throne. The Germanicia of his
childhood days is the Arabic Mar‘ash, in the far north of Syria
at the border of Asia Minor, and this Mar‘ash was taken as
early as 637 by Khalid b. al-Walid, who destroyed it. Then it
was used as a base of operations against the Byzantine Empire,
and was built up by the first Umayyad Caliph, MiVawiya
(661-680), who settled it with troops. Under Yazid, the son
and successor of Mu‘awiya, the Greeks succeeded in driving the
Muslims out of it entirely, and from then on it was the scene of
almost constant battles between Muslims and Greeks, and was
so badly damaged in the fighting that about 694 al-‘Abbas, a
grandson of ‘Abd al-Malik, had to rebuild and fortify it, moving
into it a great body of troops and building a notable mosque
in it. In the days of Leo’s youth it probably contained more
Muslims than it did Greeks, so that he must have been in con-
stant contact with Muslims at Mar‘ash, while most of his ac-
tive life as a soldier, whether as Spatharius on the Lazian fron-
tier, or as military commander of the Anatolic Theme under
Anastasius II, was spent in combating Muslim armies, long
before his brilliant relief of Amorium in 716, his relief of Con-
stantinople from the Muslim fleet in 717, and his final defeat of
Maslama’s armies in the winter of 717-718, gave him the name
of champion of Christianity against the Muslims. It would not
even be surprising if Leo knew of Islam from direct acquaint-
ance with Arabic sources, as he claims in the text of his letter
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
273
in Ghevond, for though he is still called “the Isaurian,” follow-
ing our Greek text of Theophanes, there is a good case for re-
garding him as a Syrian, 9 and one Arabic source informs us that
as a Christian citizen of Mar‘ash he could speak fluently and
correctly both Greek and Arabic. 10 The Leo who so obviously
enjoyed his controversy with Pope Gregory and with John of
Damascus, we may well imagine would enjoy equally well a
similar controversy with ‘Umar, the Caliph of the Muslims.
But though the possibility of such an exchange of contro-
versial letters between Leo and ‘Umar may be granted, whether
it did actually take place is another question. No Muslim
source available to us makes any mention of it, and of the
Christian sources, the only one which supplies any detailed
information about it is the Armenian history of Ghevond,
which brings it in incidentally in the midst of an account of
the wars between the Arabs and the Armenians. 11 In Migne’s
Patrologia Graeca, CVII, cols. 315-324, we find the Latin ver-
sion of an Epistola Leonis Imperatoris Augusti cognomento
Philosophi ad Omarum Saracenorum regem de Jidei christianae
veritate et mysteriis et de variis Saracenorum haeresibus et bias -
phemiis , printed among the works of Leo VI (886-912) the
Philosopher. A comparison of this with the text of Ghevond
makes it clear that the Latin, though much briefer and some-
9 The statement of Theophanes, Chronographia, I, 391 ry aXydeiq. 8e etc rfjs *1 cavplas,
is probably due to a confusion of Germanikeia in Comagene with Germanikopolis in
Charicene, which latter might be called Isauria.
10 Kitab al-‘Uyun in de Goeje et de Jong Fragmenta Historicorum Arabicorum, I,
25. This writer informs us that when Leo was appointed Patricius of Amorium, the
citizens of that place objected to his appointment on the ground that he was a Naba-
taean Arab.
11 Hildebrand Beck in a monograph “Vorsehung und Vorherbestipimung in der theo-
logischen Literatur der Byzantiner” in Orientalia Christiana Analecta, CXIV (Rome,
1937), to which the Editors of the H. T. R. have called my attention, devotes a
paragraph to ‘‘Pseudo-Leon III” (pp. 43-^6) in his section on “Die Polemiker gegen
den Islam,” and considers that the correspondence between Leo and ‘Umar is not part
of the original history of Ghevond, but was inserted therein by some later hand at the
end of the IXth or the beginning of the Xth century. Obviously this correspondence
does break the sequence of the history and reads like an insertion, but it would have
been such even if placed there by Ghevond himself, and Beck’s arguments against its
being part of the original text of Ghevond are only valid if Ghevond, as he assumes,
wrote in the VHIth century; but this, as we shall presently see, is an assumption which
cannot be justified.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
274
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
what differently arranged, is really the same material, meeting
the same Muslim objections with essentially the same argu-
ments. As there was no Saracen ruler ‘Umar contemporary
with Leo VI to whom that Emperor could have addressed such
an Epistle, the probability is that this is really a Latin sum-
mary of the letter elsewhere ascribed to Leo III, and wrongly
attributed to his more theologically minded namesake . 12
But if the Latin form is an abbreviated and somewhat cor-
rupted text, the Armenian form in Ghevond, as we have it , 13
errs in the other direction, for it occasionally expands the argu-
ment with references to Islamic matters that can hardly be
dated as early as the reigns of ‘Umar and Leo III. A compari-
son of the two texts shows that it is not possible to regard the
Latin as an abbreviation of the Armenian, nor to look on the
Armenian as an expansion and amplification of the Latin, so
that we are forced to assume a Greek document 14 purporting
12 Ebrhard in Krumbacher’s Geschiehte der byzantinische Literatur 2 (1897), p. 168,
and the Abb6 Vogt in Camb. Med. Hist. IV, 59, accept without question the attri-
bution of the letter to Leo VI, follpwing its earlier acceptance as such by Baronius,
Fabricius and Migne, and Wolfgang Eichner in Der Islam XXIII (1936), p. 142, by
setting a date c. 900 for it, is obviously following the same opinion. Dom Ceilljer had,
however, seen that it must have been wrongly assigned to Leo VI, and Popov in hi^
special study of the work of this Emperor, HivmepaTOp’L JleBT, My^pBiu h ero qapCT-
BOBaHie bt > ^pKOBHO-HCTOpyqeCKOMB OTHOmeHin, Moscow, 1892, shows that not
only is the letter quite unworthy of his subtle pen, but in its Latin form it expressly
supports the Roman Catholic side of the Filioque controversy, whereas in the genu-
ine works of Leo VI he expresses hipiself definitely on the other side.
13 My translation of the letters was made years ago from Chahnazarian’s text, but
in preparing this article I have only been able to use the text in the edition of St. Peters-
burg, 1887, edited by K. Iziants, a microfilm of which was put at my disposal by the
kindness and courtesy of Professor R. Blake and the Librarian of Harvard University.
Chahnazarian’s edition was printed at Pari^ in 1857, and it was from this text that the
Russian translation by Patkanian was made. Fortunately the 1887 edition includes
the critical notes of both Chahnazarian and Patkanian.
14 K. Schenk, however, in his article in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, V, 1896, p. 277
n. 2, considers the whole letter an invention, — “Was endlich den Bekehrungsbrief
anlangt, so ist dieser wohl in das Reich der Fabel zu verweisen, da es Omar nicht einfallen
konnte zu erwarten, dass der Kaiser, siegesfroh und stolz, Byzanz errettet zu haben,
noch in demselben Jahre zum Glauben der geschlagenen Feinde iibertreten werde. Die
Erzahlung wird erfunden sein zu dem Behufe, die Behauptung, Leon sei ein Freund des
Islam, zu rechtfertigen.” This is perhaps being hypercritical* for the sending of such
a letter is not at all out of character with the ‘Umar who meets us in the Muslim sources.
Brosset has a note on the correspondence in his Deux historiens armeniens (St. Peters-
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
275
to give some account of the letter of ‘Umar to Leo, and the
text of Leo’s reply, which in a considerably reduced form sur-
vived in a Latin translation in the West, and in a somewhat
expanded form was preserved in an Armenian translation in
the East. It may be noted that the Armenian translation,
whether we accept an earlier or a later date for Ghevond, rules
out the attribution of the letter to Leo VI.
The date of Ghevond (Leontius) is somewhat difficult to
determine. Armenian writers generally include him among the
historians of the VUIth century, but Neumann in his Versuch
einer Geschichte der armenischen Literatur (Leipzig, 1836),
p. 129, lists him among the writers of the Xth century, and this
latter date, one must admit, would suit better the information
he has about Islam. He is definitely quoted by Mekhitar of
Airivank in the XHth century, and is referred to by Stephen
Asoghik, a Xth century writer, so that his work must be earlier
than either of them. Chahnazarian, who first edited the text
of Ghevond (Paris, 1854), makes a defense of the VUIth Cen-
tury date by pointing to the facts (1) that his chronicle of the
relations between Arabs and Armenians runs from 632 to 788,
and one would imagine that he had brought it up to his own
time; (2) that in telling of the battle of Arjish 15 between the
Arabs and Armenians in 770-771, he speaks as though his
account were drawn from eyewitnesses of that battle, for he
says “the enemies themselves have assured me of the fact, say-
ing,” and again, “they have also told me.” In the colophon of
the St. Petersburg text we read that Ghevond’s account was
made at the command of the Lord Shapuh Bagratuni. If this
Shapuh is the brother of Ashot Msaker, as Chahnazarian and
Petermann assume, then as he died in 824, 16 Ghevond must
have flourished in the VUIth century. 17 But there was another
burg, 1870), p. 34. H. Beck in Orientalia Christiana Analecta, CXIV, p. 44 n., adduces
a number of littlje pieces of evidence to show that there was a Greek text underlying
the Armenian; e.g. he refers to “our Greek language,” calls the Torah j'Ojuos, uses the
LXX names for Chronicles and Canticles, etc.
15 Baladhurl Futuh, 200.
16 See Tableau II B, “Les Bagratounis,” in Muyldermans, La Domination arabe en
Armenie, p. 148.
17 Finck in the section on Armenian Literature in “Die orientalischen Literaturer,”
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
276
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
Shapuh among the Bagratids, a son of Sembat the Confessor
(|855), and brother of that other Ashot (f890) who was king of
Armenia, so that if Ghevond’s account was written for him it
would give us a date in the latter half of the IXth or even the
beginning of the Xth century, which would suit much better
some of the Islamic references in the text, e.g. its mention on
p. 61, among the Muslim sects, of the Jahiziyya, a sect which
only developed after the death of al-Jahiz in 869, and so could
hardly have been known to a writer in the VTIIth century. 18
In the St. Petersburg edition of 1887, the letter of ‘Umar and
the reply of Leo are given in Chapters XIII and XIV of Ghe-
vond’s History, pp. 43-99.
Die Kultur der Gegenwart, I, vii (1906), p. 289, accepts a date at the end of the VUIth
century, but H. Beck in Byzant. Zeitschr. XXXVII (1937), p. 436, who places the
Greek original of the letter “aus der Wende des X Jahrh.,” obviously accepts the later
date for Ghevond. Ernst Filler’s Thesis Quaestiones de Leontii Armenii Historia,
Leipzig, 1903, also supports an Vlllth century date, fol/pwing Chahnazarian in mak-
ing a special point that Stephen of Asoghik, in his list of historians, places Ghevond
between Sebeos and the two Xth century writers Shapuh and Johannes Catholicos,
while Kirakos places him between Sebeos and Thoma Ardzruni. This, however, would
not obviate a date late in the IXth or early in the Xth century, and as a matter of fact
Mekhitar of Airavank, in his Tabula of the Armenian historians, places him between
Moses Arghovan and Oukhtanes, both Xth century writers (Brosset, Histoire chrono-
logique par Mkhitar d’ Airavank, St. Petersburg, 1869, p. 25, in Tome XIII No. 5
of the Memoires de l’Academie imperial^ des Sciences de Saint-Petersbourg, Vile
serie). Filler raises objections to the general accuracy of Mekhitar, but it may be
pointed out that his date agrees better with the fact that Ghevond on p. 61 of the text
speaks of its “being now 800 years since Christ appeared,” though Brosset in a note
on p. 80 of his Mkhitar refers to Ghevond as “presque contemporain” with the events
of Leo Ill’s reign. J. H. Petermann in his essay De Ostikanis, Arabicis Armeniae
gubernatoribus, Berlin, 1840, p. 9 had made Ghevond a contemporary of Thoma
Ardzruni in the Xth century, and E. W. Brooks, “Byzantines and Arabs in the Time
of the Early Abbasids,” in the English Historical Review, XV (Oct., 1900), p. 731,
judges that “the Armenian Leontius, though his history only comes down to 790, seems
to have written in the latter half of the ninth century,” with which dating we agree.
18 There have been two translations of the History of Ghevond, one by Chahnaza-
rian, Paris, 1856, Histoire des Guerres et des Conquetes des Arabes en Armenie, par
l’eminent Ghevond, vardabed armenien, ecrivain du huitieme siecle, traduite par
Garabed V. Chahnazarian, and one by K. Patkanian, St. Petersburg, 1862 — HcTOpin
xajimfjOB'L Bap^aneTa TeBOH^a. nncaTejin VIII Bfea. nepeBO^ CTb apMHHCKaro.
Both these, however, are so rare as to be unprocurable.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
277
GHEVOND’S TEX?T
The Letter of ‘Umar to Leo
‘ Umar , in the name of Allah , Caliph of the Muslims , to Leo
Emperor of Byzantium
There has often come over me a desire to know the teachings
of your so imaginative religion, and to make a profound study
of your beliefs, but I have not hitherto been able to realize my
intentions in this regard. So I pray you, tell me truly, why was
it that Jesus and His disciples came naked into this world, and
returned the same? Why is it that you have not been willing
to accept what Jesus Himself has said as to His person, but
have preferred to make researches into the books of the Proph-
ets and the Psalms, in order to find there testimonies to prove
the incarnation of Jesus? This provides a reason for suspect-
ing that you had doubts, and regarded as insufficient the testi-
mony that Jesus bears to Himself, since you give credence only
to what the Prophets have said, whereas in truth, Jesus Him-
self is the more worthy of credence, since He was near to God,
and knew His person better than mere men, whose writings,
in any case, have been falsified by people unknown to you.
How, indeed, are you able to justify these same Scriptures, and
follow them in what suits your intentions? You declare that the
Code was more than once written by the Children of Israel who
read it and understood it, and that it was many times lost, so
that for a long time there was nothing of it remaining among
them, till at a later period some men recomposed it out of their
own heads. You admit that it was handed down from genera-
tion to generation, from people to people, by fleshly creatures,
who inasmuch as they were sons of Adam, were forgetful, sub-
ject to error, and perhaps acting under the inspiration of Satan,
and those who, by their hostile acts, resemble him. Why is it,
that in the Mosaic Code one finds no clear indication of either
heaven or hell, or of the resurrection or judgment? It is the
evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who have spoken
of these matters according to their talent. Is it not true that
Jesus, speaking in the Gospel about the coming Paraclete,
pointed to the mission of our Muhammad? Why have the
Christian peoples, since the death of the disciples of Jesus, split
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
278
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
up into seventy-two races? Why have they made Jesus the
associate and the equal of the unique and all-powerful God?
Why do they profess three gods, and arbitrarily change all the
laws, such as that of circumcision into baptism, that of sacrifice
into the eucharist, that of Saturday into Sunday? Is it possi-
ble that God could have dwelt in flesh and blood, and in the
unclean entrails of a woman? Why do you adore the bones of
Apostles and Prophets, and also pictures and the cross, which
anciently served, according to the law, as an instrument of
torture? The Prophet Isaiah gives testimony to our lawgiver,
as being the equal and the like of Jesus, when he speaks in his
vision, of two riders, mounted, the one on an ass and the other
on a camel, so why do you not believe in that? Send me ex-
plications on these points, all of them, so that I may know
your religious opinions.
Such were the questions, says Ghevond, which, with many
others besides, ‘Umar, sovereign of the Arabs, addressed to the
Emperor Leo, who, in his turn, felt himself obliged to reply.
The Caliph’s questions are almost all loci communes of the
Muhammadan Controversy, though it is a little surprising to
see some of them developed so early as ‘Umar II. To the reader
unfamiliar with this special branch of Arabic literature, how-
ever, some points need a little explanation.
Jesus and His disciples coming and going naked. The reference
is to the voluntary poverty of Jesus and the disciples, who were
people of no worldly account when they commenced their mis-
sion, and had no worldly possessions when their ministry closed.
Leo has quite mistaken the reference in his answer to this. Even
to the present day the popularly read lives of Muhammad are
at pains to demonstrate that, on the contrary, the Arabian
Prophet was of the noblest family and proudest lineage of the
Arabs, and his Companions among the best-born and most in-
fluentially connected at Mecca. Moreover, Muhammad prom-
ised his followers that they should inherit the rich possessions
of the people surrounding them, as a reward for their acceptance
of Islam. The writers of the Eastern Church frequently remark
on this. For example, the Armenian historian Sebeos , 19 in his
19 Edition of 1851, p. 164, 165.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
279
account of Muhammad, tells of how the Prophet urged on his
followers that they as Muslims were the true Children of Abra-
ham, and so should go up and possess his inheritance. Ghevond
has much the same story at the beginning of his history, and
Michael Syrus 20 tells how the Prophet encouraged his armies
with the promise that if they were faithful to Allah, He would
give them a fine country as an inheritance.
Researches into the books of the Prophets and the Psalms . A
glance at the arrangement of the material in the early part of
the Epistola Leonis ad Omarum Saracenorum, in PG, CVII, will
show what he means. The early Apologists, for example Justin
Martyr in his apology for the Christians to Antoninus Pius, had
set the example of assembling a great body of verses and frag-
ments of verses from the Old Testament, and particularly from
the Prophets and Psalms, which they judged to be clear cases
of the foretelling of the coming life and work of the Christ, and
apparently the earliest controversies with Islam brought out
the same style of argument. This was probably true in the
lifetime of the Prophet himself, for he would hardly have been
so eager to see in the earlier Scriptures prophetic references to
his own coming (cf. VII, 156 and LXI, 6), had he not heard the
Christians of his day urging the Old Testament prophecies as
grounds for their claims in their preaching of Jesus.
What the Caliph is thinking of in his objection to this, is
firstly, that in the Qur’an Jesus bears witness to Himself while
still an infant in the cradle (XIX, 30-35), and secondly, that
His witness is more worthy of acceptance than that of any
Prophet or Psalmist, since in the Qur’an He is one “of those who
draw near” (III, 40 min almuqarrabin) 9 a phrase used else-
where of the Angels of the Presence (IV, 170), and of certain
groups of the blessed in Paradise (LVI, 11, 87; LXXXIII, 21,
28), so that to seek witness from others rather than accepting
the witness He bears to Himself savors of disbelief in Him.
Falsification of the Scriptures . Most Muslim works of polemic
deal at length with this question of the corruption of the Jewish
Scriptures, a question that is as old as the Clementine litera-
ture and the Manichaean controversy. In Muslim polemic it is
the matter technically known as the question of tahrif. This
20 Ed. Chabot, p. 405 of the Syriac text.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
280
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
word is the verbal noun from Stem II, harrafa — “to change
the letters” ( harf pi. huruf ), and the charge of tahrif is ulti-
mately based on a passage in the Qur’an (II, 70, cf. IV, 48;
V, 16, 45), where the Jews are accused of altering Scripture.
What Muhammad refers to in this passage seems obviously to
be the naughty habit of some of the Madlnan Jews, who, when
he asked them about their Torah, would listen to it read in
Hebrew, and then garble it when they translated it to him, in
order to make mock of him. In the polemical writers, however,
it is more generally taken to mean that the Scriptures in the
hands of the Jews have been deliberately altered by designing
men, 21 so that what the Jews (and Christians) now use as
Scripture, are not the original texts as revealed by God. Ibn
Hazm of Cordova (fl064), §alih al-Ja'farl (c. 1200) and al-
Qarafl as-§anhajl (f 1285) all deal at length with this question,
it was raised by al-Mahdi with the Patriarch Timothy, 22 and
it was one of the questions that had to be met by al-Kindi. 23
How much a part of the general Muslim outlook this doctrine
of tahrif had become is well illustrated by the way the Jewish
convert ‘Abd al-Haqq al-Islaml, who must surely have known
better, feels obliged, in his denunciation of his former co-
religionists, to charge that the Scriptures in their hands are only
poor falsifications. 24 The reference to its having been recom-
posed we shall take up later.
Follow them in what suits your intentions . From the earliest
period of the Muslim-Christian controversy this charge is made
on both sides. The Caliph here makes it against the Christians,
21 Some Muslim writers commonly understand tahrif as meaning “false exegesis” of
the Biblical passages, but the favorite meaning with the polemical writers, since Ibn
Hazm’s day, has been to take it as meaning deliberate tampering with the text. Ignazio
di Matteo has a long c^i/scussion of this matter, “II Tahrif od alterazione della Bibbia
secondo i Musulmani” in Bessarione, XXXVIII (1922), 64-111, 223-260, Fritzsch has
a section on it, pp. 54-74 of his Islam und Christentum im Mittelalter (Breslau, 1930),
and the word is discussed by Goldziher in ZDMG, XXXII (1878), p. 364 ff.
22 Mingana’s text in Woodbrooke Studies, II, p. 55. This disposes of the objec-
tion of H. Beck in Orientalia Christiana Analecta CXIV, 44 n., that the Muslim argu-
ment concerning the Torah falsification by the Jews was only raised in this form in the
IX/Xth centuries.
23 Risala, ed. of 1880, pp. 138-140.
24 M. Perlmann in JQR, XXXI (1940), pp. 177, 181.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
281
and we shall see in Leo’s letter how he retorts on more than one
occasion that the Muslims select passages, both of the Old and
the New Testaments, which suit their argument or seem to sup-
port their cause, while rejecting what may be used against them.
The same charges were made in the Manichaean controversy,
where we find Faustus, for example, complaining that Augus-
tine only takes what suits him from the Old Testament and ex-
plains away what does not suit his intentions, while Augustine
has the same complaint to make against Faustus and his
friends.
No clear indications of eschatology. The Muslim finds so much
detail in regard to eschatological matters in the Qur’an and the
Traditions, that it naturally struck him as very strange that
he found so little descriptive matter in the Old Testament
regarding the pains of hell, the pleasures of heaven, or details
on the great day of resurrection and judgment, though there
were passages more to his mind in the Gospels. This is not a
subject usually raised by the polemic writers, though Perl-
mann, in his account of the Moroccan Jewish convert to Islam,
‘Abd al-Haqq al-Islaml, mentions that one of the points he
makes against the Jewish Scriptures is that they contain no
reference to paradise or hell, as they would do if they were of
divine origin. 25 Leo makes little attempt to meet this charge,
and the Latin in 315b, 321b, refers to the evidence of Esdras,
which may mean the matter in II (IV) Esdras vii & viii. 26
The other points raised by the Caliph will come up for ex-
planation, where necessary, in the notes on the reply of Leo, to
which we now turn.
Flavian Leo, Emperor, the Servant of Jesus Christ, and
sovereign of those who know Him, to 'Umar, Chief of the
Saracens.
What exact reply can I make to all the arguments you ad-
vance against me? It is God Himself who commands us to in-
26 JQR, XXXI, 187.
26 On the other hand, his Esdras may not refer to the book in the Apocrypha, but
merely to Ezra as the restorer of the Old Testament.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
282
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
struct our adversaries with kindliness, to see whether He will
not grant them time to repent. Moreover, our ordinary laws
by no means impose on us the duty of smiting with hard words,
as with stones, those who manifest a desire to learn the marvel-
lous mystery of the truth. But as your letter, in its opening,
did not reveal even the least appearance of truthfulness, it is
laid on us that we call not just that which is not. In your letter
you say that we have discussed with you more than once the
divine mysteries of our Christian religion, but that you have
not succeeded in being able to study its doctrines, which you
refer to as imaginary. These two statements, however, are not
accurate. As a matter of fact, nothing would induce us to dis-
cuss with you our doctrines, since our Lord and Master Himself
has bidden us refrain from exposing our unique and divine
doctrine before heretics, for fear it be turned into ridicule, and
least of all before those to whom the predictions of the Prophets
and the testimony of the Apostles are as something strange.
This is the rule we observe towards others. It is true that we
have several times written to you, and shall write to you again
does necessity demand, but it has always been about mundane
affairs , 27 never about affairs divine. Still, Holy Writ bids us
reply to those who question us 28 and maintain silence before
those who do not. With regard to you, however, we are not
now for the first time learning about the substance of your be-
liefs, for we have been commanded of God to examine all, and
hold fast to that which is good. So we possess historical docu-
ments composed by our blessed prelates who were living at the
same epoch as your legislator Muhammad, and these writings 29
make it unnecessary for us to importune you on the subject
of your religion. However, that you may not think we are
ashamed to profess a religion so marvellous as ours, hearken,
27 This may be indirect confirmation of the fact that ‘Umar wrote to the Emperor
about the prisoners taken at Latikieh.
28 Perhaps he is thinking of I Pet. Ill, 15.
29 It is not impossible, of course, that Byzantine prelates, roughly contemporary with
Muhammad, may have written some account of the new religion that had arisen in
Arabia, but if they did we know nothing of it. The earliest Christian references to
Muhammad and Islam so far known to us, e.g. those of John of Phenek and Sebeos,
are bare historical notices, which tell us very little about the religion itself.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT 283
if it please you, and in hearkening to me, you will, as Isaiah
says, eat of the good produce of the earth. 30
It is truly difficult to refute even the most palpable lie, when
the adversary dreams only of obstinately persisting in it. Let
me explain it to you this way. Suppose two men are standing
near a fire. One of them recognizes that this element really is
fire, but the other, driven by a spirit of contradiction, says that
it is a spring of water, then the bad faith of the latter is evident.
Just so you advance that our Lord has said in the Gospel —
“We came into this world naked, and we shall quit it in the
same state,” whereas we do not find in the Gospels any such
statement coming from our Lord, though He does counsel us
often to meditate upon death. On the contrary it was the just
Job, who said, after having been tempted by Satan, “Naked was
I born, and so shall I die. The Lord hath given, and the Lord
hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job I, 21).
It is thus that you are wont to elude and mutilate the evidence
of Holy Scriptures that you have not read, and will not read.
You love to make traffic of the things of God and of the faith,
by catching hold in the Scriptures of some word which appears
favorable to your opinions, and employing it in your defense.
Puffed up as you are in your despotism, nevertheless hearken
to my replies.
You say that we have found in the Psalms of David and in
the books of the Prophets testimonies regarding our Lord, but
today is not the first time we have searched for and found such
words of the Holy Spirit, who spoke them by the mouths of
the Prophets. It is by such words as these, aided by the grace
of God, that Christianity has been preached since its origin,
has been founded, propagated and believed. It is by these
words, I say, that it will still prosper, by the power of God the
Creator. You write that we have contented ourselves with
these words, and that we have had faith in them, without pay-
ing due attention to what Jesus has said about His own person,
regarding that as something doubtful and uncertain. It would
30 Isa. LV, 2. Perhaps a reference to the already mentioned promise of Muham-
mad to the Muslims, that if they were obedient to the new faith they would eat of the
goodly inheritance.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
284
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
be a desirable thing for you, following your own words, to have
had faith in the infallible and positive statements of the Gospel,
rather than in any other. Now, although there exists no con-
tradiction between the Old and the New Testaments, seeing
that God, the unique source of mercy, cannot at the same time
produce both good and bad, truth and lies, yet God, to make
easier to the Jewish people the acceptance of the incarnate
Word, placed in the mouths of the Prophets declarations, para-
bles and clear predictions, so that His people should be in-
structed in advance, and prepared to receive Jesus Christ, and
not oppose Him, as it has done. In the very same way, the
Saviour, in the Gospel, has borne testimony to His person, and
having become incarnate, cited in the most express fashion all
the testimonies which the Prophets had given of Him before
His incarnation.
I propose, with the aid and by the grace of God, to show you
all this , 31 point by point, in my present letter, attributing the
most glorious of these predictions to His superhuman nature,
and the more humble ones to His human nature.
You write that Jesus merits our confidence because, being
near to God, He knew Him better than all those who have writ-
ten about Him, and whose writings, for the rest, have been
falsified by people whom we know not. I reply, that the truth
cannot deny what is and at the same time affirm that which is
not, whereas the lie is capable of anything, being able to deny
not only things visible, but even the Creator Himself, by pro-
fessing that there is no God. Consequently it is not astonishing
that the lie should deny the existence of the Holy Scriptures,
31 The assembly of Scripture witnesses which follows, as that in the Latin 316-818,
is his answer to the Caliph’s charge against the Christians of making Jesus the associate
and equal of God. The Caliph in this is merely following the Qur’an, for there (Sura V,
116, 117) Muhammad has God take Jesus to task for the claim of the Christians that
He and His Mother were Gods beside God, and He denies that He had told His follow-
ers any such thing. Also in V, 76 the Qur’an makes Jesus proclaim that Allah alone
is God to be worshipped, for those who associate anything with Allah will find paradise
denied them. The use of terms in the Caliph’s charge is worth noting — “associate,”
“equal,” “unique,” “all-powerful,” all of them Qur’anic terms, so that it would be in-
teresting to know what the Greek terms were. Perhaps the use in the Latin 315a, 317c
of the title “Son of Mary,” is because this title (ibn Maryam ), is the most commonly
used name for Christ in the Qur’an itself.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
285
or accuse them of defects. Jesus is, indeed, worthy of con-
fidence; not, however, as mere man and deprived of the Word
of God, but as perfect man and perfect God. Just as His com-
mands, set forth by the mouths of the Prophets, merit our en-
tire confidence, not because they were pronounced by men, but
because it was the Word of God which dictated them before
His incarnation. And as it was that Word itself which inspired
them in the Old and in the New Testaments, it is for that
reason that no contradiction is found in them. As for what you
affirm about the falsification of these writings, if it is the head
of your religion who has taught you this, he has forgotten him-
self, 32 and if it is some other, he only lied the worse.
Hearken, then, and reflect. The head of your religion admits
that one must accept nothing without witnesses, 33 and he adds
that the (Mosaic) Code held the same, and indeed, the Code
does ordain that every testimony be confirmed by two or three
witnesses. We know that it was Abraham who earlier received
the promise of the mission of Christ, and it was to him that
God said — “All nations of the earth shall be blessed in thy
seed” (Gen. XXII, 18). Isaac, nourished on the same hope,
blessed Jacob, and then he, with the same end in view, blessed
Judah, saying — “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor a legislator from between his feet, until Shiloh come, to
whom will belong the assembly of the peoples” (Gen. XLIX,
10). We know too, that Moses, to the same end, ordained and
designated Joshua (Deut. XXXI, 7, 14, 23). Recall also David,
Solomon, the twelve prophets, with Samuel, Elijah, Elisha,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Job the just, John Baptist
son of Zachariah. Add to these the twelve Apostles, and the
32 He is referring to the fact that in the Qur’an Muhammad himself, on more than
one occasion, appealed to the testimony of the Scriptures in the hands of the Jews and
Christians.
33 Sura V, 105-107, 96; LXV, 2; II, 282; IV, 7, 19 are the classical passages about
the calling of witnesses, but in none of them is there any reference to this being also in
the Torah of Moses, though the Commentators know of the regulation in Deut. XVII,
6. Leo later brings up again this question of Muhammad’s demanding two witnesses,
as a ground for objecting to Muslim rejection of the divinity of Christ on the single
witness of Muhammad himself, whereas the Christians can produce many witnesses
in favor of it from the Old and New Testaments.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
286
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
seventy disciples of the Lord, in all a hundred and eleven per-
sons in the Old and New Testaments. You despise then so
many holy persons, cherished of God, who have predicted the
coming of Christ, people to whom Muhammad himself bore
this testimony that they were holy servants of God , 34 that
Muhammad may appear more worthy of faith than God speak-
ing through them, and than the Word of God manifest in the
flesh. Well, I put to you this question, and I beg you to reply.
Is the testimony borne by a hundred and eleven servants of
God, speaking unanimously of the same Saviour, more worthy
of faith than that of a dissident or heterodox, who while he
lies thinks that he is telling the truth ? Remember that Muham-
mad in speaking of them, represents them as saints, and as the
favored ministers of God, and compels you to regard them as
such, whereas what God has said through them he himself re-
jects and prevents others from admitting.
You ask how we can depend on the book of the Jews, the Old
Testament, as you maintain that we believe that this book was
several times written and lost, until after long years some in-
dividuals undertook to recompose it after their own ideas.
Thus, according to the opinion that you attribute to us, such
work would have continued being done from generation to
generation, while those who did it were exposed to all sorts of
error and to the seductions of Satan, and those who by their
hateful spirit resemble him. In reply, I am much astonished,
not only at your incredulity, but also at the manner in which,
without a blush, you expose ideas which render you ridiculous,
while you pretend to seduce us by our own words.
Thus you commence your letter by citing one of our opinions,
pretending to draw from it all that follows, as though that had
emanated from us. But if you believe in our opinions you must
believe in them altogether, because no one can base himself
on a lie, and it is a lie to adopt a part of a testimony and reject
the other part. However, as you are not instructed, hearken
and learn.
34 The reference is probably to such passages as XIX, 59 and VI, 84-87, which rep-
resent the Prophets as rightly guided, and LXI, 14; V, 111, which refer to the Hawariy-
yun, who were the followers of Jesus.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
287
When we say that it was the Hebrews who composed the
Old Testament, we do not mean to say that they have produced
it out of their imaginations, but that they composed it in the
sanctuary, on the faith of authentic documents from holy and
pious men of their nation, and drawing from the works of the
Prophets themselves. The number of beings created by God
during the first six days, amounts to 22, 35 and so the Old Testa-
ment contains 22 books received by the Jews as well as by us.
Their alphabet is composed of 22 letters, of which five may be
doubled, and that not without an important signification.
That is by inspiration of God through His Prophets, that all
the truths might be attested, the ones by the others. Of these
22 books, five are known under the name of the Law or the Code,
and called by the Hebrews Torah , by the Syrians Oratha , and
by us Nomos. They contain teaching about the knowledge of
God, an account of the creation of the world by Him, the pro-
hibition of the worship of pagan divinities, the covenant con-
cluded with Abraham, the goal of which was Christ, and the
laws concerning civil procedure and sacrifice, laws which put
them far from the customs of that paganism for which they
showed so much attachment. Then the books of Joshua,
Judges, Ruth; the four of Kings, the Paralipomena, containing
the marvellous works of God, wrought from time to time, and
the exact genealogy of the just, descending regularly to Christ.
They recount also the history of Israel, indicating what kings
among them were agreeable to God, and those who were not;
of how the Jewish people, because of their sins, were separated
into two kingdoms, that of Judah and that of Israel; and finally
of their captivity. Then the Psalms of David; the books of
Solomon, called by the Jews Koheleth and Shir-ashirim, but
by us Parimon and Samatan; 36 those of the twelve Prophets,
35 This number 22 is no argument against the ascription of the letter to Leo, on the
ground that the Emperor, familiar with the Septuagint, would have used the orthodox
list containing the Deuterocanonica. It must be remembered that not all Greek lists
of the Canon contained the Deuterocanonica, and on the other hand the usual Ar-
menian lists of Ghevond’s time would almost certainly have contained the extra books.
See Beck’s note and references in Orientalia Christiana Analecta, CXIV, 45 n.
36 The Kuhilet for Koheleth, and Sirtsirim for Shir hash-Shirim, are fairly good
equivalences, but Parimon seems to be a mistake, the subscription Trapoiixicu from the
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
288
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
and of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, of Daniel and of Ezekiel, containing
all the prophecies as to the coming of Christ. So if anyone
among the Jews had wished to falsify herein, the number of
books would have had to suffer some change, for the sacrilegious
fellows would have had to suppress some, or reduce them to one,
two, or at most three books, and retrench the rest, because thus
it would have been much easier to get rid of them.
I suppose, too, that you are not ignorant of the enmity which
exists between us Christians and the Jews. The sole cause of
this is our belief in the divinity of Christ Jesus, whom we re-
gard as the Christ, the Son of God, announced by the Prophets,
while the Jews, while admitting the future coming of the Christ,
have set themselves against the intimations of the Prophets,
and have been unwilling to recognize the Son of God in the
person of Christ. So how can one admit that those who might
have falsified the books would have left there intact, or would
themselves have added, so many indubitable testimonies, which,
no matter how much violence is done them, cannot be applied
to any other than the incarnate Son of God ?
Hear yet my third reponse. The captivity of the Jews took
place long before the coming of Christ in the flesh, so how could
it be that then, that is to say at the period of Christ, the temple,
the testament, the priesthood continued to exist, as the Gospel
affirms, according to which the Lord Himself submitted to
circumcision and the other ceremonies, precisely as you your-
self confirm, and all that without doubt, with the object of
proving that it was He Himself who had, by the mouths of the
Prophets, ordained these ceremonies, and that far from being
disagreeable to Him they were very agreeable, and served as
solid testimonies to His purpose and His mission? Did the
Jews possess any other testament than the books of the Proph-
ets, which, having traversed the double captivity of Judah and
Israel, continued to exist up to the times of our Saviour, and
from which, in preaching to the hardened Jews, He drew the
major part of His testimonies, as we see from His Gospel? The
Jewish people was led into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, yet
book of Proverbs being taken for the superscription to ’EKK^ataarijs. The Samatan
doubtless represents part of the title acrjuara aafiaTcov.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
289
the divine protection did not abandon them, and did not permit
them to be dispersed, as we see in our own days. God estab-
lished them entire in the land which He had decreed. Not only
did this people carry with it the Testament, but it was even
accompanied by some of the Prophets. Thus Ezekiel says that
he found himself on the banks of the river Kebar in the midst
of the captives. Also the blessed Ananians were cast into the
fiery furnace in Babylon. Moreover the eminent Daniel com-
menced his prophetic career at Babylon, for it was there that
he was cast into the lions’ den. There also it was that the events
of the history of Esther took place. To convince you that the
captives took with them the Testament, I invite your attention
to what the Holy Spirit says through the Prophet in the Psalms
relative to this enslavement of the Jews. This enslavement
had not yet taken place, yet he announces it in an unmistak-
able manner in Ps. CXXXVI, saying — “We were seated by
the rivers of Babylon, and there we wept; we remembered Zion.
We hung up our harps on the willows, when those who had
taken us prisoners demanded of us that we sing songs, and re-
joice them by the sound of our harps that we had hung up, say-
ing to us — ‘Sing us some of the songs of Zion.’ ”
You pretend that the Testament was composed by human
genius, and I know that you attack the second edition that
Esdras composed . 37 Yet this man possessed the grace of the
37 He is referring back to the charge of the Caliph that the Old Testament was many
times lost, and at a later period recomposed out of men’s heads. The “many times
lost” doubtless refers to the Rabbinic tale that at three different times in the history
of the Jews the Torah was nearly forgotten, but each time a man from Babylon restored
it. The first time it was restored by Ezra, the second by Hillel in the time of King
Herod, and the third by Rabbi Hiyya the elder, the disciple and friend of R. Jehuda
Hannasi, assisted by his sons Hezekiah and Judah (B. Sukkah 20a).
The “recomposing,” of course, is the legendary labor of Esdras and his scribes re-
lated in II (IV) Esdras cap. xiv, a tale that occurs elsewhere in Muslim apologetic.
The Latin 315b has the charge a little more explicitly — “et iterum diets, quia , cum
lex Moysi in igne fuisset cremata et renovasset earn Esdras propheta ut potuit ei memoria
cordis sui recordari, et non sine mendacio ,” and refers to it again in 321a, — “ quod autem
dicis, legem Moysi esse crematam, et quod earn Esdras memoriter et mendaciter memoravit .”
A second reference by Leo (p. 55 of the Armenian text), also recognizes that the Caliph’s
reference is to the Ezra legend, “you attack the second edition which Esdras composed.”
The Ezra legend in II (IV) Esdras xiv speaks of the law as having been burned — “lex
tua incensa est” (v. 21), and of Ezra’s memory being the source of the dictation —
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
290
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
Holy Spirit, and all that he composed has the cachet of infalli-
bility, as is proved by the fact that when all the people, de-
livered from captivity, came back to Jerusalem, bringing with
them the Testament, there was seen the marvellous work of
God, for when it was compared with the edition of Esdras,
this was found completely in conformity with the former.
You have said that the writers of the Testament, in their
quality as men, were exposed to faults of memory. I admit that
every man is always feeble in every respect, is imperfect and
forgetful. Yet God, who is eternal, whose power is great, and
whose wisdom is without limitation, spoke to men by the
Prophets, His ministers. He who is exempt from forgetfulness
and conjectures, He it is who speaks in the Prophets, without
having need of human wisdom. But you, do you not regard
your Muhammad as a man? Yet, relying on the simple word
of Muhammad, you disdain the testimonies of so many saints
of God. You say, further, that Satan finds himself near the
servants of God. As for God Himself, he does not approach
Him, and reasonable people well know that he much rather
approaches a person who is deprived completely of the testi-
mony of the Holy Scriptures, than such holy and recommend-
able people. As concerns the Holy Scriptures this will suffice.
“spiritus meus conservabat memoriam” (v. 40), and of course it was the Holy Spirit’s
descent which was to enable him to do the work — “inmitte in me spiritum sanctum,
et scribam omne quod factum est in saeculo ab initio quae erant in lege tua scripta”
(v. 22) .
Leo may have derived his knowledge directly from the book in the Apocrypha, but
the detail he adds about the confronting of the two texts is curious. His earlier insist-
ence that the “Testament” (i.e. the Torah) went with them to Babylon, is in accord
with a Rabbinic tradition to the effect that a copy of the Torah with “crowns” had
been buried under the threshold of the Temple, where Ezekiel found it and carried it
to Babylon with him, whence it was brought back by Ezra (Sefer ha Tagin in Ginz-
burg’s Massorah, II, 680). As the tradition speaks of its being brought back by Ezra
himself, it is clear that an attempt is being made to identify it with “the Law of thy God
which is in thy hand” of Ezra VII, 14, 25, 26, so that the reading aloud of the Law
mentioned in Nehem. VIII ff. may have been interpreted as the comparison of the old
copy from Babylon with the new one produced by Ezra by way of inspiration.
The Latin 321c makes the point that even though Ezra reproduced the matter from
memory, this would be nothing against it, since he was a Prophet, and “ in prophetis Dei
non est mendadum neque oblivio , quia Deus jit revelatio illorum ,” a sentiment which
would be universally approved by orthodox Muslims, since according to their teaching,
one of the things which cannot be ascribed to Prophets is nisyan, i.e. “forgetfulness.”
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
291
In saying that there cannot be found in the Mosaic Code any
reference to Paradise or Hell or Resurrection or Judgment, 38
you show your unwillingness to comprehend the fact that God
has instructed man in the measure that his intelligence has
developed. God did not speak with man a single time only, nor
by a single Prophet, as you assume in supposing that God
would institute through the ministry of Moses all that was
necessary. Not at all. What He commanded Noah He did not
demand of those who preceded him. Not all that He com-
manded Abraham did He command Noah, nor all that He
commanded Moses did He command Abraham. Not all that
He commanded Joshua did He command Moses, and what
He commanded Samuel and David and all the other Prophets,
in each epoch, He did not command Joshua. And so on, since,
as we have already said, God wished to reveal Himself little by
little to men, who would have been unable to perceive and ap-
propriate at one single step such marvellous knowledge. So,
if God ought to have ordained all by a single Prophet, why
should He send others ? And if He was going to let everything
get falsified, as you pretend, why then ordain it? However, the
revelation made by God to Moses was only a sort of prepara-
tion for the instruction of men, not a complete instruction.
Nevertheless, God does therein make mention of the resurrec-
tion, of judgment and of hell. As regards the resurrection, God
says — “Behold, now, it is I myself, and there is no God be-
side Me. I make to die, and I make to live, I wound and I cure,
and no one is able to deliver out of My hand.” (Deut. XXXII,
39). As regards judgment He says — “I sharpen the blade of
My sword, and if My hand seizes the judgment, I will make
vengeance turn on My adversaries, and will render it to those
who hate Me” (Deut. XXXII, 41). As regards hell He says
— “The flaming fire of My wrath will burn them unto the low-
est hells” (Jer. XVII, 4). These doctrines received further de-
velopment and illumination in what came later by other
Prophets.
We recognize Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as authors of
38 See the Latin 3JL5b, 321b.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
292
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
the Gospel, and yet I know that this truth, recognized by us
Christians, wounds you, so that you seek to find accomplices
for your lie . 39 In brief, you admit that we say that it was
written by God, and brought down from the heavens, as you
pretend for your Furqan, although we know that it was ‘Umar,
Abu Turab and Salman the Persian, who composed that, even
though the rumor has got round among you that God sent it
down from the heavens . 40 Recognize, then, in that the frank-
39 The Caliph’s problem is that the Injll {evay^ektov) mentioned in the Qur’an as
the book of Jesus, must, according to theory, be a book containing the revelations given
by God to Jesus for him to proclaim to the people, whereas the Gospel in the hands of
the Christians consists of these four Evangelists’ accounts of the “Good News” as pro-
claimed in the words and deeds of Jesus, which is a very different thing.
40 The orthodox Muslim view, of course, is that the divine original of Scripture is
in the heavens, and that the material was revealed piecemeal by the Angel Gabriel to
the Prophet over a period of some twenty odd years, the Prophet reciting the passages
to the people as they were progressively revealed to him. (Bukhari, ed. Krehl, II, 410.)
In very many passages Allah speaks of revealing this or that to the Prophet, and the
common verb used in the Qur’an in connection with revelation is nazzala , anzala ,
tanazzala , from a root meaning “to come down,” so that there is no doubt that the ma-
terial was meant to be understood as “sent down from heaven.”
In the Qur’an itself, however, there are hints that Muhammad’s contemporaries
knew that he had informants of another faith giving him at least some of his material.
In XXV, 5, 6 we have the charge of the Meccans that others had helped him with the
production of the Qur’an, which they said was but “tales of the ancients” that he had
had put into writing as they were dictated to him morn and even; and in XVI, 105 the
Meccans hint that they know a certain person who taught him the things he claimed
to receive by revelation. Numerous suggestions have been made, both by the Muslim
commentators, and by Western students, as to who this “mentor” may have been, but
in any case that would refer only to odd bits of information or material supplied to
Muhammad for working up into his revelations, not that they were the authors of the
book.
The charge that ‘Umar, Abu Turab and Salman the Persian were the authors of the
Qur’an, however, is peculiar. By ‘Umar he means ‘Umar b. al-Khattab, the second
Caliph.
Abu Turab is ‘All, the son-in-law of the Prophet and the fourth Caliph. The tractate
Contra Muhammad, printed at the end of Bartholomew of Edessa’s Confutatio in PG,
CIV, speaks (col. 1457) of ‘All as having been the one through whom the Qur’an was
put into circulation.
Salman al-Faris! is one of the most curious figures of Islamic history and legend.
That he was a historical person, need not be questioned. Possibly he w^as a Persian
slave at Madina w ho embraced Islam and put his knowledge at the service of the new
faith. His position as a non- Arab Muslim, however, made him conspicuous as “the
firstfruits of Persia in Islam,” and attracted so much legend to his figure, that even his
connection w r ith the famous Ditch is questioned by some critics. Part of this legend
connects him with the production of the Qur’an.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
293
ness of the Christians, and as we profess it, how can you dare
invent calumnies, pretending that since that time there have
been introduced into the Gospel alterations , 41 whether by us or
others? What could have hindered us from removing from it
the names of the Evangelists, or from adding that it was God
alone who sent it down from the skies? Further, give attention
to this fact, that God has not willed to instruct the human race
either by His own appearing or by the mission of angels . 42 He
has chosen the way of sending them Prophets, and it is for this
reason that the Lord, having finished all those things that He
had decided on beforehand, and having fore-announced His in-
carnation by way of His Prophets, yet knowing that men still
had need of assistance from God, promised to send the Holy
Spirit, under the name of Paraclete, (Consoler), to console them
in the distress and sorrow they felt at the departure of their
Lord and Master. I reiterate, that it was for this cause alone
that Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, since He sought
to console His disciples for His departure, and recall to them all
that He had said, all that He had done before their eyes, all
that they were called to propagate throughout the world by
their witness. Paraclete thus signifies “consoler,” while Muham-
mad means “to give thanks,” or “to render grace,” a meaning
which has no connection whatever with the word Paraclete . 43
41 The commonest charge of alterations in the Gospel is that the name of Muham-
mad was there, but the Christians removed it. The remark about removing the names
of the Evangelists refers to the Muslim claim, mentioned before, that Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John prove the Gospels to be the words of men not the word of God, or, as
the Muslim objector in Bartholomew of Edessa says (col. 1384c) — Aid ri to KareXdov
JStbayyekiov eKpvxpare, /cat vkov kypaxpare\
42 In the Qur’an there are many references to the expectation that an angel should
be the agent of revelation, or of instruction from God.
43 The Caliph’s question as to whether Jesus had not in the Gospel, in speaking about
the Paraclete, referred to the coming of Muhammad, goes back to the Qur’anic verse
LXI, 6, “And when Jesus, son of Mary, said — O Children of Israel, I am the messenger
of Allah to you, confirming the Torah now present, and announcing a messenger to
come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” The name Ahmad is from the same root as the
name Muhammad, both meaning much the same thing, “the praised,” and the com-
mon supposition is that the statement refers back to the promise of the Paraclete in
John XIV, 16, 26; XV, 26; XVI, 7. But see the discussion by A. Fischer, “Muham-
mad und Ahmad, die Namen des arabischen Propheten,” in Berichte liber die Verhand-
lungen der Sachsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, LXXXIV (1932), Heft. 3,
Whatever the origin of this may have been, the claim that the promise of the Para-
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
294
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
This blasphemy, in fact, is unpardonable, as the Lord Himself
says in the Gospel — “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will
never be forgiven” (Matt. XII, 31). Can there be a blasphemy
more terrible than that which consists in replacing the Holy
Spirit by a person completely ignorant of the Holy Scriptures ?
To comprehend that the Lord, in this passage, was speaking
of the Holy Spirit, give heed to what He says — “The Com-
forter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,
will teach you all things, and will recall to your remembrance
all the things that I have told you” (John XVI, 26). A little
further on He adds — “whom the Father will send in my
name,” whereas your Muhammad did not come in the name
of our Lord, but in his own name. Jesus promised the Holy
Spirit to the saints, that is, to His own disciples, not to men in
general, and you know well that His disciples did not live to
see your Muhammad. I have already said that the Creator
spread abroad the light of His knowledge by His Prophets
successively, little by little, and yet, even by them all, He did
not achieve all the justice that was to come. By the ministry
of the Prophet Daniel God has pointed us to three periods
whereby the world shall arrive at a really satisfactory knowl-
edge of God. First it comes out of the shadows of idolatry, and
it arrives at a certain degree of knowledge by the Law. From
that it passes to the clearer light of the Gospel of Christ, and
finally, from the Gospel to the perpetual light of the world to
come. None of the Prophets has announced to the world a
fourth period, whether for doctrine or for the promises. On the
contrary we are ofttimes warned by our Saviour not to admit
any other Prophet nor any Apostle after the death of His
disciples.
You pretend, moreover, that after the death of the disciples
clete was fulfilled in Muhammad is prominent in Muslim thought. Timothy in his
Apology before al-Mahdl (Mingana in Woodbrooke Studies, II, 33-35) is at pains to
prove the Muslim claim wrong, and almost every polemical writing in this field con-
tains some account of the matter (see Fritzsch 90 ff.). Some sought to explain the ref-
erence as a deliberate deception of Muhammad by the renegade monk who was his
mentor. Thus the Syriac writer Isho‘yabh in the Christian Bahira Legend edited by
Gottheil in ZA, XIII, tells us (on p. 213) how the scribe Kaleb (= Ka‘b), who came
after Sergius, taught the Muslims that Muhammad himself was the Paraclete.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
295
of the Lord, we became divided into seventy-two sects . 44 This
is not true, so do not think to console yourself by this lie. Let
me explain this to you. According to your own people, it is
a hundred years , 45 more or less, since your religion appeared in
the midst of a single nation speaking a single language. Yet
this religion, so young, and professed by a single nation, already
presents numerous schisms, a few of which we shall mention
here as having come to our notice. Look then at the Kouzi, the
Sabari, the Tourapi, the Kentri, the Mourji, the Basli, further
the Jahdi, who deny both the existence of God, and the resurrec-
tion, along with your pretended Prophet, and the Hariuri. One
group of these sectaries is peaceable enough, but the others are
so stirred up against you, that they consider you both as in-
fidels and enemies, considering the assassination of your persons
preferable to any other justice, and regarding death at your
hands as the foremost of meritorious works. Such acts take
place habitually amongst you. As for you yourself, have you
no thought that by exterminating those who differ a little from
your opinions, you commit a crime against God ? 46 If such acts
44 The Caliph’s question was doubtless based on his memory of the Muslim tradi-
tion as to the seventy-two sects of the Christians, not on anything he had learned from
Christian sources.
The splitting up into sects is a matter for which the Jews and Christians are blamed
in the Qur’an, indeed (XXX, 31; XLII, 11), but the number seventy belongs only to
the tradition.
46 The hundred years since the religion of Islam appeared would be accurate for Leo
writing in 718, for August 3rd of that year saw the beginning of the year 100 A. H., a
year specially marked by the Muslims, as we know from the Annalists, because it was
expected to be a year of great portent for the Islamic religion and empire.
46 The identification of these Muslim sects is not simple. The names are given in the
same order, though with slight orthographical variations, in Vartan (p. 53 of the text
as printed in Muyldermans, La Domination Arabe), who almost certainly took them
from a MS of Ghevond. In each case we have to assume, of course, that the Armenian
name is an attempt at transliterating a Greek form, which itself may not be a very
accurate representation of the Arabic original.
The Kawzi (Vardan Kouzi) are doubtless the Khawarij, as Chahnazarian suggests.
They were the political puritans of Islam, who created much trouble all through the
days of the Umayyad Caliphate.
The Sabari (Vardan Sabri ), whom Chahnazarian would identify with the Jubba’ites,
followers of Abu ‘All al-Jubba’i (f915), are perhaps rather the Jabarites, who with the
Murjiites presently to be mentioned, formed one of the earliest known sects of Islam.
The Tourapi (Vardan Tourabi) are doubtless some ‘Alid sect, since ‘All himself was
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
296
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
take place among you, who form one single people speaking
a single language, and having at your head a single person,
who is at the same time chief, sovereign, pontiff and hangman,
would it be astonishing that the Christian faith, were it the
invention of some human wisdom, should become worse than
yours? Yet it is now eight hundred years since Jesus Christ
appeared, and His Gospel has been spread from one end of the
earth to the other, amongst all peoples and all languages, from
the civilized countries of Greece and Rome to the furthest coun-
tries of the barbarians, and if there is found some divergence
among Christians it is because of the differences of language.
I have said divergence, because there has never been among
us that bitter hostility such as one sees deeply rooted among
you. It would appear that under this number seventy-two you
known as Abu Turab (see Noldeke in ZDMG, LII, 29 ff. on the name), and his Shfite
followers often named Turablyya.
The Kntri may be, as Chahnazarian suggests, the Qadarites, who appear with the
Murjiites and the Jabarites as among the earliest sects of Islam. They were so named
because they believed in free-will, and that man had power ( qadar ) over his actions.
They were the predecessors of the Mu‘tazilites.
The Mourfi are quite obviously the Murji’ites or “postponers,” who withheld judg-
ment till they could see how Allah would pronounce on the Last Day.
The Basil (Vardan Basil ) must be the Mu‘tazilites, or at least a group of them, the
name deriving from the famous Wasil b. ‘Ata’ (fl31 A.H. = 748 A.D.), whose separa-
tion from his master al-IJasan al-Basrl is a story famous in the books of Muslim theology.
The Jahdi (Vardan Jhdi) would seem to be the Jahizites, the followers of the “gog-
gle-eyed” Mu‘tazilite teacher of Basra, Abu ‘Amr b. Bafrr al-Jahiz, who died in 869.
It is hardly true to say, as Ghevond does, that he denied the existence of God and the
resurrection, though the thoroughgoing philosophical scepticism of Jahiz, and his
clever mockery of much that the orthodox taught both about Allah and the hereafter,
may well have sounded like a denial of both.
The Hariuri (Vardan Hariri) Chahnazarian would identify with the Khurramiyya,
followers of Babak al-Khurraml, the son of an Aramaic-speaking oil-seller of Ctesiphon,
who appeared in 816, and for some twenty years terrorized W. and N. W. Persia,
claiming to be a theophany, and to reincarnate the spirit of Jawldan. Or failing this
he would see in them the IJululite sects who taught that God’s spirit continues to in-
carnate amongst men (see Baghdadi, Farq, 241 ff.). It is much more likely, however,
that the reference is to the Haruriyya, a name for the Kharijites, or portion thereof,
given them from the town of liarura or Haraura’, outside Kufa, where the Khawarij
retired when ‘All returned to Kufa from the battle of Siffln. They are often called
IJaruriyya in the theological tractates and also in ordinary historical references. They
would best fit the description of Ghevond of being so fierce against the orthodox that
they would willingly kill them as infidels and enemies, and consider it most meritorious
to die fighting against them.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
297
must include all the voluptuous, impure, filthy, impious people
who conduct themselves like pagans, and among whose number
you count us. But these are people who disguise under the
name of Christ their own abominations, giving themselves out
to be Christians, but whose faith is only a blasphemy, and their
baptism only a soiling. When such manifest their intention of
abandoning their detestable life, the Holy Church receives
them into her bosom only after administering baptism to them,
just as to pagans. Indeed, God has long since caused them to
disappear completely, so that one no longer sees them.
As for us we are accustomed to designate the Christians as
seventy races, which have all received holy baptism, the gage
of eternal life. If among them some questions of minor im-
portance cause agitation, especially among some of them who
live far from us and speak a tongue other than ours; above all
those who have fallen under your tyranny, yet they are none
the less Christians, and have no need to be baptized anew. In
any case it is nothing strange that Christians, who live as foreign-
ers afar off, have not been able to acquire a closer acquaintance
with the traditions of the truth, such as they ought to have.
Yet the Scriptures are the same, conserved intact in each
language; and the Gospel is the same, without any variation.
I leave on one side, then, the various languages in which the
wondrous and salutary Christian religion has been spread
abroad, after indicating a few of them — (1) our Greek lan-
guage; (2) the Latin; (3) the Hebrew; (4) the Chaldaean; (5) that
of the Syrians; (6) that of the Ethiopians; (7) that of the In-
dians; (8) that of the Saracens, which is yours; (9) that of the
Persians; (10) that of the Armenians; (11) that of the Geor-
gians; and (12) that of the Albanians. 47 Suppose, following what
you say, that one or two of these peoples had introduced changes
in the books in their respective languages, how can one suppose
that these changes are to be found also in the books of other
peoples, dwelling as you well know, far from us, and differing
from us both in their language and their peculiar habits. As for
your (book), you have already given us examples of such
47 This list of languages is that of the 1887 text, which differs somewhat from that
of 1857.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
298
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
falsifications, and one knows, among others, of a certain
Hajjaj, named by you as Governor of Persia, who had men
gather up your ancient books, which he replaced by others
composed by himself, according to his taste, and which he
propagated everywhere in your nation, because it was easier by
far to undertake such a task among a people speaking a single
language. From this destruction, nevertheless, there escaped
a few of the works of Abu Turab, for Hajjaj could not make
them disappear completely . 48
48 This is a rather confused reference to the work of al-Hajjaj on the text of the
Qur’an. The orthodox Muslim theory assumes that the text as canonized by ‘Uthman
was the final canonization, but there is reason to believe that a recension of ‘Uthman’s
text was made by the direction of al-IIajjaj, so that we only know of the text of ‘Uth-
man in this later recension. This fact was apparently well known to Oriental Christian
writers, for al-Kindl in his Apology (Risala, p. 78), speaks of al-Hajjaj not leaving a
single Codex that he did not gather up, and left out many things, and of how he sent
out copies of his new recension, and directed his attention to destroying the older
Codices. This statement of al-Kindi has always been looked at askance as a piece of
Christian polemic, but we know from Ibn ‘Asakir (Tarikh, IV, 82) that one of al-IJajjaj’s
claims to fame was his being instrumental in giving the Qur’an to the people, and from
Ibn Duqmaq (Intisar, IV, 72) we know of the commotion in Egypt when a Codex from
those which al-IIajjaj had had officially written out to be sent to the chief cities of the
Muslim Empire, reached that country. As there were stories about al-IIajjaj being
connected with the earliest attempts at putting diacritical marks in the Qur’anic text
to make its readings more certain (Ibn Khallikan I, 183 quoting Abu Ahmad al-‘Askari),
and also with the earliest attempts at dividing the text into sections (Ibn Abi Dawud,
Kitab al-Masahif, p. 119 in my Materials), it might be suggested that this recension
of his w T as merely an improved edition of the ‘Uthmanic text, which he had had prepared,
and copies of w r hich he had had sent out as the edition to be officially used. Such a
suggestion would also suit the story in the as yet unprinted Mushkil of Ibn Qutaiba,
that he ordered the destruction of all the Codices representing a text earlier than that
canonized by ‘Uthman, and with his w r ell-known enmity towards the famous text of
Ibn Mas‘ud (Ibn ‘Asakir, IV, 69; Ibn al-Athlr Chronicon, IV, 463). In Ibn Abi Dawud
(pp. 49, 117), however, we have a list of eleven passages, on the authority of no less a
person than Abu IJatim as-Sijistani, where our present text is said to be that of al-
IIajjaj, arrived at by tampering with the earlier text. It would thus seem that some
revision of the text, as well as clarification by division and pointing, w^as undertaken by
al-IJajjaj, and that this was known to the Christians of that day, and naturally exag-
gerated by them for polemical purposes. As this work would seem to have been done
by al-IJajjaj during his period of office under the Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan,
who died in 86 A.H. = 705 A.D., there is no difficulty in supposing that Leo may have
heard of it during his official life in Syria.
His remark about a few of the works of Abu Turab having escaped may refer to
works, such as collections of Proverbs, etc. which were ascribed to ‘All, and as such
circulated in the East, or it may merely refer to Codices of the Qur’an which he knew
had escaped the general destruction ordered by al-Hajjaj.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
299
Such a thing as this would have been impossible among us.
First of all because God has forbidden us to dream of such an
audacious enterprise. Secondly, because even if someone, in
spite of God’s prohibition, had dared so to act, it would have
been impossible for him to have gathered up all the books
spread abroad in so many different languages, procured and
brought together skilled interpreters, and have had these in-
terpreters examine the books, so as to add and subtract accord-
ing to his idea. For the rest, as you are well aware, since you
mention the fact, there exists among the Christians a sort of
enmity, regarding questions of little import, it is true, but
sufficient to be capable of inspiring each nation with the notion
of introducing changes into the books in its language according
to its opinions. Yet no such thing has taken place, neither
amongst those who find themselves far from us, nor among those
who live in lands near us. Cease then to multiply such inani-
ties, lest you nullify the little truth there is in what you advance.
One thing about you, indeed, astonishes me more than a
little. It is that after you have shown such disdain with regard
to the Gospel of our Saviour, and the books of the Prophets,
regarding them as falsified and as recomposed by men accord-
ing to their ideas, you nevertheless, in order to support your
own inconstant opinions, cease not to draw citations therefrom,
which you twist and modify at will. Whenever, for example,
you come across the word Father , you replace it by Lord , or
sometimes by God . If you are making your researches in the
interests of truth, you ought to respect the Scriptures before
citing them. Or, if you disdain them as corrupt, you ought not
to use them for citation, and if you do cite them, it is an obliga-
tion on you to cite them such as you find them in the books,
without modifying them in the way you do.
It is very difficult, as a matter of fact, for the servants of
God who are under your command, to have any relations with
you. Pagans, when they hear the names of the Prophets or
Apostles, begin to laugh, but you, though you do not despise
their names, turn their words into ridicule. Let us, however,
cite to you the following passages addressed to Moses — “I am
the Eternal . . . the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
300
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
God of Jacob” (Ex. Ill, 14); “Let us make man in our own
image, according to our resemblance” (Gen. I, 26); “Come
then, let us go down and confound their language” (Gen. XI, 7).
Again — “The Eternal rained down from heaven, on Sodom
and Gomorrah, sulphur and fire from the Eternal” (Gen. XIX,
24). These I quote from the books of Moses which you have
not read, neither you nor your legislator. What! do you believe
that it is to angels, who dare not look upon Him, that the Eter-
nal is addressing the above-mentioned words? We do not
permit ourselves to think, as you so often do, that such passages
as these from Holy Scripture are empty and futile. To whom
then could it be that God is addressing these words, if it is not
to His Word, the image of His substance, the ray of the light of
His glory, and to the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and enlightens
all? And yet we are accused by you of recognizing three gods. 49
Is the sun different from the rays which derive from it? Yes,
without doubt. Yet take away these rays and there is no more
sun. And if anyone says that the rays generate directly from
the sun, and from it alone, without the concourse of any other
power, in a way different from the generation of humans, which
proceeds from the coupling of the sexes, that, in a word, it
draws them out from its own proper substance, such an one so
saying would not be deceiving himself. In effect, though the
sun is other than its rays, their union does not make two suns.
Is not that your opinion too? So, if this light, visible and
created, which the night obscures, which the height of buildings
intercepts, seems to us to proceed from a birth so pure, what
will be the purity of a divine birth, which proceeds from a light
whose eternal splendor nothing dims ? 50
49 The Latin deals with this charge in 317a. Again it is a Qur’anic charge that the
Caliph is preferring, for in IV, 169 the Christians are bidden “say not three,” and in
v. 77 of the next Sura, those who say “Allah is the third of three,” are classed among
the unbelievers. The wording of Sura V, 116, “O Jesus, son of Mary, was it Thou who
didst say to the people — ‘Take Me and my mother as gods apart from Allah?’,” sug-
gests that Muhammad thought of the Christian Trinity as parallel to the numerous
Near Eastern triads of Father, Mother, Son.
In the Latin 317a the question of the engendering of the Son is brought out a little
more specifically — “ Pater non est genitus , Filius est genitus y Sjriritus sanctus non est
genitus necque ingenitus ,” apparently having in mind the Qur’anic passage CXII, 3,
“He begetteth not and is not begotten.”
50 This illustration from the sun is given somewhat differently by the Latin 316c.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
301
I was driven to make use of this example in order to convince
you, because it seemed to me that you give little heed to what
God orders us in the Holy Scriptures, as you prefer your own
will to them. From them you take what pleases you, fearing
not to modify them at your caprice, changing what is not in
accordance with your views. Maledictions upon any man who
admits two or three divinities emanating from different origins.
For our part, we know only one God, the Creator of heaven and
earth, a wise God, whose Word, holy and full of reason, created
all things and governs them. And this Word is not as ours,
which, as long as it has not proceeded from our mouths, re-
mains incomprehensible to others, and as soon as it has gone
out, decomposes and dissipates. This Word is what we recog-
nize as the Word of God, the ray of light that nothing dims, a
ray which is not simply like those of the sun, but is of a quality
so eminent as to disconcert the intelligence and evade explana-
tion. It is this Word which Scripture calls the Son of God,
engendered by Him not under the dominance of passion such
as is of earth, but as the rays are born from the sun, as light
goes out from fire, as the word emanates from the reason. In
sum, this is all that human language can say with regard to
the Word-God, emanated from God, and as to their consub-
stantiality.
Now among creatures, there is no being more precious be-
fore God than man, as you yourself avow in mentioning that
the angels were commanded by God to bow the knee to Adam,
a fact unknown to the Holy Scriptures . 51 Adam was a man,
and in rendering him such homage, you have well evidenced
your pride, so let everyone know what place they ought to oc-
cupy, who are unwilling to render homage to the Man, accord-
ing to your own expression . 52 It is evident that Adam was
61 The story of the angels being commanded to bow down to Adam is in Sura II, 32
(cf. XVII, 63; XVIII, 48; XX, 115), which is the story of the fall of Iblls through his
refusal to obey this command.
52 This is the beginning of his argument in reply to the objection that the Christians
are in error in adoring Christ. The Latin 320c on this point points out that the Children
of Israel adored the Ark (doubtless referring to II Chron. V, 6 ff.), and yet in so doing
they were not adoring the w r ood of the Ark, but the Law , the Word of God, which was
in the Ark (I Ki. VIII, 9), so since the angels were commanded to adore the newly
created Adam, why should one not adore the incarnate Word? Then it asks whether
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
302
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
created in the image of God, but do you believe that it was his
material body full of infirmities which God created in His
image? Not at all. On the contrary, it was his soul, reason and
word which God created in the image of His Spirit and His
Word. Man, being created in this manner and receiving honor
and independence, became the image of God. But later, de-
ceived by the Tempter, he was robbed of the honor for which
he was destined by his Creator, and being now a despised
creature because of his blameworthy forgetfulness, he aban-
doned himself to a life of most blameworthy debauchery and
luxury. Voluptuousness became his unique occupation, and
his whole life came to present nothing but a tissue of hatred,
rapine, assassination and avidity, and he ended up by plung-
ing into idolatry, which is the summation of all iniquities, and
into such voluptuousness as I am ashamed to speak of here. In
this aberration he set about worshipping not only fantastic
visible entities, but even his vices, adultery, sodomy, to which
he rendered divine honors. Thus did the Tempter succeed in
reducing humanity to such degradation, and he rejoices in
triumph at seeing himself adored under the form of the idols of
paganism, and in exciting voluptuous man more and more to
this perverse cult by auguries and deceitful talismans.
God, however, seeing His image so degraded by this adora-
it is not better to adore Him than some deaf stone at Mecca, which is but a relic of
ancient heathenism. The reference, of course, is to the Shrine at Mecca with its sacred
Black Stone. The “ idololatria ilia qua adorabant Jaoh , Jaoc, Nazara , et Allac et Allogei
et Mena , quidam ex eis erant dei in similitudine virorum , quaedam in similitudine femi-
narurn ,” is a reference to Sura LIII, 19, 20, which mentions the three goddesses Al-
Lat, al-‘Uzza and Manat, all of which were in female form, and Sura LXXI, 23,
which mentions the ancient Arab deities Yaghuth, Ya‘uq and Nasr. His following sen-
tence, however, is difficult to understand — “Majores horum , dicebantur Aleubre , unde
et sermo iste derivatur , Alacuiber , inter vos immolentes eis pecora et camelos in uno die pro
unoquoque anno” If we can suppose Aleubre to be a misprint for Alcubra , then the
two words may be the two superlatives, masc. and fern. al-Jcubra and al-akbar , “the
greatest,” used in titles of the original male and female deity of the shrine, i.e. the
Hubal and ‘Uzza whom we learn figured together in the pagan Meccan war-cry. The
sacrifice of cattle and camels at the Meccan shrine in pre-Islamic times is well attested.
He then goes on, “et secuti estis consuetudinem paganorum super lapide illo , in Mecha,
in angulo domus ipsius idololatriae , cui serviebat antiquitas paganorum , et immolabat ,”
referring to the Black Stone ( al-hajar al-aswad ), which is set in the outside southern
corner of the Ka‘ba (Rifat Pasha, Mir’at al-IIaramain, I, 132 ff.; 300 ff.).
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
303
tion rendered the Tempter, and by the abasement into which
man had fallen in doing that which was pleasing to Satan, was
touched by compassion for man’s misery, for He alone is the
true benefactor and friend of humanity. And, as there existed
no other road of salvation for man than that of coming to know
his Creator and to flee from his enemy, He manifested Him-
self to man to this end, making Himself known at first through
intermediary of the Prophets, His ministers, as by a light which
shines little by little in the midst of the darkness of paganism.
So great was the blindness of man’s spirit that he could not con-
template fully all at once the whole of the knowledge of God,
for which reason God commenced, as I have noted above, by
illuminating it little by little, until the right time arrived. Thus
God enlightened man by as much as He found good for him,
but promised him in advance, through the Prophets, the coming
of His incarnate Word, who should clothe Himself with our
flesh and our soul and all that is proper to man, save sin. 53
As no one among men has been able to descend lower than
He in humiliation, we attribute to Him all that has been said
as to His lowering Himself; and, on the other hand, all that has
been said as to His glory, we attribute to Him as to one who is
veritably God. You will probably recall what we reported above
from the books of Moses, concerning the equality of the Word
of God with God Himself. Hearken now, to what Moses further
says relative to the future appearance of the Word clothed in
a human form. “The Eternal, thy God, will raise up a prophet
from among thy brethren, to whom you will hearken as to Me
. . . and he will tell them all that I have commanded. And it
will so be that whoever will not hearken to My words which
he will speak in My name, I shall demand it of him” (Deut.
XVIII, 15, 18, 19). Everyone knows, it is true, that since the
death of Moses, instead of but one single prophet, there have
appeared a great number. Nevertheless the passage before us
can apply to but one, namely, he who is the most powerful of
them, and who announces things difficult to believe. Now I
63 The substance of the argument of God’s remedy for the sad state of sinful man is
that of the Latin 319. The following Scripture “proof texts,” while by no means the
same as are used in the Latin in 317 ff are of the same general type.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
304
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
shall cite you a multitude of passages from the Prophets, in-
dicating the coming of Christ, and I prefer to set before you
first those which speak of Him in terms of humiliation, in the
conviction that you will welcome such with much pleasure.
In this manner, I hope that I shall succeed in raising you, if
God will, as by a stairway, from the profound depths of this
earth, to places most elevated, even to the presence of God.
David, speaking of Him, says, as being in His place: “But I,
I am a worm, and not a man, opprobrious to men and despised
of the people. All those who see me make mock of me; they
sniff at me, they shake their heads. He abandons himself,
they say, to the Eternal; let Him deliver him, and take him
away, since He takes pleasure in him” (Ps. XXII, 6-8). This
prophecy was not accomplished in David, but in the person of
the Lord, when He was hanging on the cross. The same David
speaks of Christ in eminent terms; “The Eternal has said to
me; Thou art My son, this day have I begotten thee” (Ps. II,
7). To indicate the complete conversion of all the pagans to
the Christian faith, the same Prophet adds: “The Eternal hath
said to my Lord; Sit thou at my right hand, till I have made thy
enemies the footstool for thy foot. . . . The people will be a
people of free volition, in the day when thou assemblest thy
army with holy pomp; the dew of thy youth will be produced
for thee from the breast of the morning” (Ps. CX, 1, 2). The
same Prophet expresses himself thus on the unity of the divine
nature (the holy Trinity seated in the heavens) : “The earth is
full of the gratuity of the Eternal; the heavens have been made
by the Word of the Eternal, and all their host by the breath of
His mouth” (Ps. XXXII, 5 and 6).
Jeremiah expresses himself thus: “The Lord sent me, and His
Spirit” (Isa. XLVTII, 16). He also says, concerning the in-
carnation of the Word of God: “He is our God, and He has
found all the paths of wisdom, and has given it to Jacob His
servant, and to Israel His favourite; then He appeared in the
world and walked with men” (Baruch III, 35-37). In this
passage the Prophet indicates two kinds of light; the first is
that of His extreme abasement, whereby He illuminated the
entire universe, by propagating therein the rays of the knowl-
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
305
edge of God; and the second is that of the general resurrection
that He announced to the Hebrew people, exhorting it to remain
faithful to the first rising of that light, and not to revolt against
it (as really took place), for fear lest strangers, that is to say
pagans, should enter into possession of their glory. He then
says to them: “Return, O Jacob, and hold on to him during the
birth of his first light, and give not thy glory or interest to
another” (Baruch IV, 2 , 3). I call your attention to this pas-
sage, for in it the Prophet announces not only the future in-
carnation of the Word of God, but also predicts there in the
clearest manner the future revolt of the carnal people of Israel.
This prophecy does not prevent us from receiving yet an-
other, made, in spite of himself, by a stranger, and mentioned
by Moses: “How beautiful are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and
thy pavilions, O Israel” (Numb. XXIV, 5), and a little further
on he adds, “water will distill from its waters, and his seed will
be among the grand waters, and its king will be elevated above
Agag, and its kingdom very highly elevated” (v. 7); and again,
“I see him, but not now; I regard him, but not from near. A
star will be born of Jacob, and a sceptre will be raised up in
Israel; he will transpierce the chiefs of Moab and destroy all
the children of Seth” (v. 17). This prophecy speaks of Him as
a man, yet you see well how in precise fashion it indicates the
future domination He will exercise over the pagans; that is to
say, all the peoples must believe in Him, as you see for your-
self. Under the name of the chiefs of Moab, one may under-
stand Satan and all his demons, who maintain the mendacious
cult of idolatry among the peoples, finally beaten and super-
seded by Christ, since the polytheism of the Moabites and those
peoples subject to their dominion was more detestable than
that of all the other peoples, since they adored, among other
things, the genitals of man and woman, instruments of the
most detestable voluptuousness. 54 As for what he says about
54 That the Moabitish worship was of a licentious character is suggested by such
Old Testament passages as Numb. XXV, and the Moabite Stone with its reference to
‘Ashtar-Chemosh, suggests the Baal and consort worshipped with licentious rites at
the “high places,” but we have no evidence to support the precise charge in the text
as to the forms of the images. Later Rabbinic writers commenting on Numb. XXI,
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
306
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
"he will be elevated above Agag,” it is necessary to recall that,
whatever may be the extent of Agag and his force, his power is
but temporary, while that of Christ will be eternal.
That the empire of Christ really is such you will see if you
give attention to the words of the Holy Spirit on this matter,
when He says through David: "O God, give Thy judgments to
the king, and Thy justice to the king’s son” (Ps. LXXII, 1).
That shows that Christ was, by His divinity, Son of God, the
celestial King, and by His human character as son of David,
terrestrial king, as we have often told you. A little further on
the Prophet adds — “They will fear Thee as long as the sun
and moon endure throughout all ages . . . indeed, He will
dominate from one sea to the other, and from the river to the
ends of the earth. . . . All kings also will prostrate themselves
before Him, all nations will serve Him. . . . Prayers will be
made continually for Him, and each day He will be blessed. . . .
His renown will endure for ever, His renown will go from father
to son, as long as the sun shall endure; and people will be
blessed in Him; all nations shall proclaim Him blessed” (Ps.
LXXII, 5, 8, 11, 15, 17). Can one, after having heard expres-
sions so sublime, attribute them without trembling to an ordi-
nary man, a descendant of David, and not to Him who, in His
human nature is son of David, but in His divine nature is Son
of God and Word of God; and who in the end must reign, not
by force of arms, or by pitiless effusion of blood, nor by en-
slaving, but by pacific faith, as is indicated still more clearly
in the following passage of the Psalm: "In His time shall justice
flourish, and there shall be an abundance of peace till there be
no more moon” (v. 7).
God also further announced the Messiah through Micah in
these terms — "But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratha, although
small among the thousands of Judah, from thee shall come out
one unto Me to be he who dominates in Israel ; and his issuing
forth is from of old, even from eternal days” (Micah V, 2). Is
the issue of some simple man to be dated as from eternal days ?
Hear yet another prediction which God makes to us by the
29, tell us that the idol of the Moabites was a black stone in female form (Midrash
Lekach Tob, ed. Padua, Wilna, 1884, in loc.).
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
307
mouth of Jeremiah: ‘'The heart is guileful and desperately
wicked above all things, who can know it? O Eternal, Thou
art the expectation of Israel. All those who abandon Thee will
be ashamed. Those who turn away from Me shall be written
in the earth, because they have left the source of living water,
the Eternal One” (Jer. XVII, 9, 13). Under the name Israel
one must not understand the obstinate Jews, but those who
have seen the Word of God, and have believed that He was
God engendered of God, because in the Hebrew language the
word Israel signifies clairvoyant , 55 This explanation is given the
word by God Himself in a passage in Isaiah, where He says —
“The infant is born unto us, the son has been given us, the
empire has been set on His shoulder, and His name shall be
called Admirable, Counsellor, God mighty and powerful, the
Father of Eternity, the prince of peace, the Angel of the great
mystery” (Isa. IX, 5). He is called Angel by reason of His
human character completely pure and admirable; Counsellor
and Mighty God , are expressions of His divine nature. Then the
Prophet adds — “There shall be no end to the growth of His
kingdom and prosperity on the throne of David, and on His
reign, to affirm it and establish it in justice and judgment, from
now on and for always” (v. 6). Now it is well known that Jesus
did not mount the throne of David, and did not reign over
Israel, because this has no reference to a temporary throne,
but to that of which God had spoken to David in these terms:
“I will make thy prosperity eternal, and I will see to it that
thy throne shall be as the days of the heavens” (Ps. LXXXIX,
29). Someone may now ask, what is this throne of David?
and how is it eternal and as the days of the heavens? Without
doubt it is the celestial empire of Christ, who as to His human
nature was a son of David, as had been announced in so precise
a manner by Isaiah, — “There will be no end to the growth of
55 The name = “may El strive,” is explained in Gen. XXXII, 28; Hos. XII,
4 as “wrestler with El,” but from the later pronunciation of the name, represented in
the Greek and Syriac forms with initial X, there grew up the conceit that it was made up
of the three elements PN = “man who saw God.” From Philo’s ’IvpcnjX, o-wtp
epprjvevOev €<jtlv . . dpQv Oeov” — (de Abrahamo, 12, cf. de congressu eruditionis gratia,
10), the idea passed to the Greek ecclesiastical writers, and was doubtless the common
understanding of the name in Leo’s day.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
308
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
His kingdom and prosperity on the throne of David, and on His
reign, to affirm it and establish it in justice and judgment, from
now on and for ever” (Isa. IX, 7). This passage leads us to see
that the most powerful and most glorious empire of Christ,
the son of David by His human nature, will be in the heavens,
where He will transport His eternal and inaccessible king-
dom.
Nor must one neglect what Isaiah says in regard to this:
“Behold, a virgin who will become pregnant and will bring forth
a son, and his name shall be called Emanuel” (Isa. VII, 14). I
have still many other passages I might cite on this subject, but,
that I may not weary you, I have preferred to limit them.
Nevertheless, I beseech you, hearken to some citations regard-
ing His extreme humiliation in the sufferings which He volun-
tarily supported, in accordance with the previous indication
thereof by the Prophets. The Holy Spirit, by the instrumental-
ity of Isaiah, speaks thus: “I have not been rebellious, and have
not retired backwards. I have exposed my back to those who
smote me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out my hairs. I
have not hidden my face from insults nor from being spat upon”
(Isa. L, 5, 6). Also through Zechariah, He speaks: “And I said
to them, if it seem good to you give me my hire; if not, give it
me not. Then they weighed my hire, which was twenty pieces
of silver” (Zech. XI, 12). This prediction, along with all the
others, was fulfilled in the person of the Saviour. He was sold
by His disciple, and handed over to death, as the evangelists
have preserved record, which you may examine as carefully as
you wish and will find it such as we have presented it to you.
Among many others David thus predicted the sufferings of
Christ — “He who was at peace with me, whom I trusted, and
who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Psa.
XLI, 9). Isaiah speaks of the same subject in a more detailed
manner, saying — (Here he quotes Isa. LIII, 1-9 at length.)
Dare you then, relying on the bare word of your Muham-
mad, deny and give the lie to so many testimonies of the Holy
Spirit, set forth by the Prophets His ministers? You must at
least conform to the prescription of your legislator, who com-
mands that nothing be affirmed unless verified by two wit-
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
309
nesses. 56 Indeed this is one of the more important regulations.
How then, have you not shame, in dependence on the sole word
of your prophet, to utter so evident a blasphemy? Is it that
you have forgotten, though maybe you are hardly aware of it,
the tremendous imposture credited by your prophet, accord-
ing to whom Miriam, the daughter of Amram, and sister of
Aaron, was the mother of our Lord, 57 whereas between the first
Miriam and the second there was a space of 1370 years and
thirty-two generations? If you had a countenance that was
sensitive and not of stone, truly you would have had to blush
at such impostures absolutely without foundation. The Christ,
according to the promise of God, ought to come from the tribe
of Judah, whereas Miriam, the daughter of Amram, belonged
to that of Levi. Your objections are full of inconsequences, and
offer nothing but a multitude of gross and inadmissible falsi-
fications. The source of so many such subterfuges and contra-
dictions is naught but purely human invention, but I shall
endeavor, by the aid of the little seal of truth, to bottle it up.
With regard to the Mosaic Code, the Psalms and the Gos-
pel, you pretend that the Hebrews and ourselves have altered
them, 58 though you recognize that these books are of divine
origin. Suppose we admit for the moment that ours have been
falsified and corrupted. Where, pray, are yours, in which you
place credence? Show us other books of Moses or the Prophets,
Psalms of David, or the Gospels, that we may see them. 59 This
56 For this question of the two witnesses see note 33.
57 The passages in question are Sura XIX, 29 where the mother of Jesus is called the
sister of Aaron, and LXVI, 12, where she is called “daughter of ‘Imran.” The Latin
315b. c. does not make this point about the thirty-two generations that had elapsed
between the two Miriams, but merely says that the one Miriam died in the desert be-
fore they entered the promised land. It then goes on to make the further point that
the first Miriam was of the tribe of Levi, whereas the mother of Jesus was of the tribe of
Judah. 68 See notes 21 and 37.
59 In the Qur’an Jesus is represented as saying things which are not to be found in
any Gospel, canonical or apocryphal, but which, according to Muslim theory, would
presumably have been found in the Gospel to which Muhammad refers, which is why
Leo further on asks that this Gospel be cited.
The reason Leo mentions specifically the Torah, Psalms and Gospel, is that these
three alone are mentioned in the Qur’an, and the challenge to produce other books of
Moses, David and Jesus, if those which are in the hands of the People of the Book are
not genuine, must have been early made, for there have been attempts to answer the
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
310
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
imposture is the most monstrous and most ignoble. At the very
least you will have to admit that even you have never seen them .
But do you, who lovest to pry into the Gospel that we possess,
in order to find some citations that you can then produce, after
forcing them and altering them , 60 do you still pretend that we
have falsified them ? At least cite this Gospel which your legis-
lator knew, and then I shall be convinced that you speak the
truth.
There is only one single faith, you say. Yea, doubtless, there
is but one faith, one baptism, than which no other faith or
commandment has been given men by God. Then you re-
proach us for not turning, when we pray, to the region indicated
by the Code , 61 and for not communicating as the legislation
ordains. This objection is completely vain and full of follv.
The region to which the Prophets turned when they made their
prayers is not known. It is you alone who are carried away to
venerate the pagan altar of sacrifice that you call the House
of Abraham . 62 Holy Scripture tells us nothing about Abraham
having gone to the place which afterwards, according to the
order of Muhammad, became the centre of adoration of your
co-religionists. As to the sacrament of the Communion you
will have my response later on.
challenge by producing such. The point of the usual Muslim objection to the Scrip-
tures at present in the hands of Jews and Christians, is that a Scripture should contain
the “Word of God,” i.e. in it God would be the speaker from beginning to end, as He is
in the Qur’an. In the Qur’an we find God addressing man all through, whereas in the
Jewish and Christian Scriptures it is as often as not man addressing God. The genuine
Torah, or Zabur (Psalter) or Injll (Gospel), would thus, according to the Muslim idea,
be similarly composed in verses of rhymed prose (saj‘), in which God would be address-
ing man.
60 Numerous examples of “sayings of Jesus” are to be found in Muslim theological
literature.
61 The regulation concerning the Qibla, or direction to which the Muslim must turn
in prayer, is given in Sura II, 136-140.
The Ka‘ba, of course, in pre-Islamic days had been a pagan shrine, and there can
be little doubt that many of the ceremonies thereat, the circumambulation, the kissing
of the Black Stone, etc., which were taken over into the Islamic ceremonial of the
Pilgrimage, derive from pagan practice, so that there is some color of truth to the
charge that the Muslims venerate a pagan altar of sacrifice.
62 Possibly this was a name used for the Ka‘ba, though now the Maqam Ibrahim
(which is mentioned in the Qur’an in II, 119, III, 91), is pointed out as a special place
in the sanctuary area, and has its own cycle of legends.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
311
Let us for the moment examine the different passages of the
Gospel which are relevant to your pretensions. Jesus Christ,
as God, had no need of prayers, but as man He made them in
order to teach us how to pray, even us whose nature He partook.
But in His praying He said nothing of all that which you at-
tribute to Him. On the contrary He said: “Father, if Thou
shouldest wish to put this cup far from Me; but in any case,
not My will be done, but Thine” (Lk. XXII, 42). He thereby
gave evidence that He was really man, since it is necessary to
believe that the Word of God was both perfect man and per-
fect God, so that whosoever deprives Him of one or the other
of these attributes, also deprives himself of the hope of attain-
ing eternal life. The truth of the Gospel and the fidelity of
Christians are manifested by conserving intact in equal measure
both those traits in Him which are the most eminent and those
which are the most humiliating, for had those who preceded us
been able, or if we had had the thought of introducing some
changes into the Gospel, would not these humiliating traits have
been suppressed? Jesus said: “The Son can do nothing of
Himself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He it is who does
the works” (John V, 19; XIV, 10). If then you believe that the
Son can do nothing of Himself, you must also believe that the
Father who dwells in Him is He who does the works. Similarly,
if you believe in the fear which came over Him as He was being
put to death alive, and the sweat with which He was covered,
and which was not that of Adam, and of which He had said be-
fore His incarnation — “Thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat
of thy brow” (Gen. Ill, 19), and if you believe in the assistance
given Him by the angels, 63 though this was not to encourage
Him, but to dissipate the idea of His disciples that He was a
mere man, such an apparition making them realize that He
was in many respects above the state of a mere man; if, I re-
peat, you believe all this, you must also believe what He said
in the same book — “No one takes from Me my life, but I
63 The Qur'an speaks of Jesus as having been “aided" by the Holy Spirit (II, 81,
254; V, 109), and as Gabriel was identified with the Holy Spirit (cf. XVI, 104), it was
commonly said that Jesus had had angelic help and assistance, which is doubtless what
is referred to here.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
312
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
leave it of Myself; I have power to leave it and power to take
it again” (John X, 18). Never did He say, as you pretend, that
God sent Him into the world and that He returns to Him. 64
On the contrary He said that the Father who sent Him was
with Him, and adds — “ I came forth from the Father, and am
come into the world,” and again, “I leave the world, and I go
unto the Father” (John XIV, 28 and 31). As for you, in all
these passages that I have cited, whenever you meet with the
word “Father” you change it, and replace it either by the word
“Lord,” or by the word “God,” and you think to be able to
justify your position by thus doing. Meanwhile, among these
shameful modifications you make in the Scriptures, there is one
passage which you cite with some fidelity, though you put no
faith in it. That passage is this, — “He who believes in Me,
believes not merely in Me, but in Him who sent Me” (John
XII, 44). The meaning of this is that it is not in His human and
visible character that one believes, but in His divine character,
inasmuch as He is the Word of God. Then He adds as follows —
“He who rejects Me, rejects Him who sent Me,” and “He who
contemplates Me, contemplates Him who sent Me” (John
XII, 45, 48). He was sent as a man, and He sent His disciples
as God, saying to them — “The Father is greater than I”
(John XIV, 28), that is to say greater than My human nature,
for otherwise He would not have said a little later on, “I and
My Father are one” (John X, 30). Similarly, in His prayer,
that you yourself report, Jesus said, “That they may know
Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou hast sent, Jesus
Christ” (John XVII, 3). In this passage we see Jesus Christ
bearing the title of God. Had He been merely a Prophet, needs
must He have said — “that they may know Thee, the only
true God, and Moses with the other Prophets, and then Jesus.”
64 The reference is probably to the statement in the Qur’an that Jesus was merely a
“Messenger” ( rasul t V, 111; III, 43; IV, 156, cf. XLIII, 59), i.e. one sent, just as other
Messengers had been sent, and to the passages (III, 48; V, 117) which refer to how
Allah “took him to Himself.” The Latin 315a states the objection that adoration of
Christ is out of place since He Himself brought testimony “ dicens quod missus sit a Deo ,”
and quoting the promise in Matt. X, 32 about confessing before the Father those who
would confess Him on earth, and His statement in John XX, 17 about ascending to His
God and their God, as clear evidence that He did not think of Himself as God.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
313
Put aside, then, all these idle tales, for the fact is that Jesus,
perfect God, became, by the admission of a human nature,
perfect man, to whom we attribute the humiliating expressions
of Scripture, as applying to a man, just as the glorious expres-
sions apply to a true God, as I have mentioned several times.
Under the envelope of His human body He allowed Himself
to be tempted by Satan, who, at the baptism of Jesus, when he
heard the divine voice saying : “This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased/’ was seized with horror, not being able to
make out to whom it was addressed. Meanwhile Jesus, by His
fast of forty days, as by the voice divine, proved that it was He
alone to whom the voice was addressed. Then Satan, the de-
clared enemy of those who practise virtue, desolated and de-
voured by jealousy, approached the person of the Lord, and
found in Him one who knew all that was passing in the mind
of the Adversary, and who replied to him only by disdaining
him as the enemy of humanity, refusing to reveal to him the
mystery of His designs. But why have you not read what fol-
lows, how when Satan found his temptations useless he re-
tired for the moment, and how angels approached the Lord and
adored Him? Did the angels adore Him as a man? It would
appear that it is only the truth that you flee, exerting yourself
to create all imaginable obstacles so as not to recognize our
Lord as God, presenting Him always as a mere man, comparing
Him to Adam, who, according to you, was created immediately
by God, without having parents . 65
65 The argument from here on is an answer to the Muslim objection that Jesus was
a mere man, as Adam was. In the Latin 315a the objection is put quite simply, that
Christ was in the sight of God such as Adam was, for He ate and slept as Adam did.
This is again taken up there in 320b. The reference is to the Qur’anic passage III, 52,
“Jesus, indeed, is as Adam in the sight of God. He created him of dust ( turab ).” To
which the Latin 320d, 321a objects — “ Ponitis facturam de Into , quae contradixit Deo
suOy et non custodivit praeceptum eius, similem Verbo Dei et lumini ipsius y qui non est
f actus y sed per ipsum facta sunt omnia.” The de luto of the Latin probably represents
the min tin “of clay” of the Qur’anic stories of the creation of Adam (VII, 11 etc.).
It would seem that Christians in their argument with Musljms used to make much
of the fact that the birth of Jesus was without the agency of a human father, as is ad-
mitted in the Qur’anic accounts of the Annunciation. A favorite Muslim counter-
argument is that mentioned by Leo here, that if Jesus is to be ranked high because of
His birth from a mother without a father, then Adam must rank higher still, for he was
produced without even a mother being necessary.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
314
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
As for His vivifying death, of which, as a matter of fact, you
are not ignorant, you fabricate another imposture by saying
that no one could put Him to death. 66 But I ask you, if Jesus
were a mere man, according to your supposition, is it a thing in-
credible that a man should be able to die? Pay close attention
and reflect on this. You accept with satisfaction all the humiliat-
ing traits in the life of our Lord, but you despise and reject all
the glorious traits. I invite you, therefore, to direct your at-
tention to some points of the Gospel in regard to this matter.
John the Evangelist, speaking of Jesus, says: “He who be-
lieves in the Son has eternal life; but he who disobeys the Son
will never see life, but the wrath of God dwells on him” (John
III, 36). John the son of Zechariah says: “Behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John I, 29).
Then John the Evangelist commences his Gospel with these
words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by it, and without it nothing of what was
made was made” (John I, 1-3). The Word of God itself, having
come into the world in flesh, expressed itself in the following
manner — “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John
XIV, 9), “As the Father knows Me, so know I the Father”
(John X, 15), “the Father (who has sent Me) is with Me”
(John XVI, 32), “I mount to My Father and your Father, to
My God and your God” (John XX, 17). He is His Father by
His divine nature, our Father by grace, because “all those
who receive Him to them gives He the right to be children of
God, even to those who believe on His name” (John I, 12). He
is His God because of His human nature, which He has in com-
mon with us. In His quality as being man Jesus was sent, and
in His quality as being God, He sent His disciples — “as the
Father hath sent Me, so send I you” (John XX, 21). Thus all
the passages of the Gospels are in accord on these points.
With regard to circumcision 67 and the sacrifice, 68 you pretend
66 Doubtless a reference to the famous passage in Sura IV, 156, which replies to the
Jewish boast that they had killed the Messiah, by declaring that they had not killed
Him nor crucified Him, but only someone in His likeness.
67 Since all Muslims follow the ancient Semitic practice of circumcision, though it is
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
315
that we have changed things, altering the former into baptism
and the latter into the communion in bread and blessed wine.
We have not altered or modified anything in these institutions.
It was the Lord Himself who, in accordance with the prediction
of Jeremiah, changed the type as laid down in the Old Testa-
ment and established the true law. Just listen to this prophecy.
“Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, when I shall make
a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of
Jacob, not according to the covenant which I made with their
fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them
not so much as mentioned in the Qur’an, it was a peculiar grievance of theirs against
the Oriental Christians that they did not follow this custom, and considered their bap-
tism as a substitute for it. The Caliph al-Mahdl urges this against the Patriarch
Timothy (Woodbrooke Studies, II, 28) .
68 The Latin 321c leads up from the sacrifice of the two sons of Adam, which is men-
tioned in the Qur’an itself (V, 30), and so well known to Muslims, to the sacrificial
nature of the Eucharist. Then in 321d, 322a he quotes the strange account of the Last
Supper and institution of the Eucharist given in Sura V, 112-115. His knowledge of
the Qur’anic passage is probably from oral tradition, and makes curious comparison
with the original —
Cum discipuli Filio Dei dixissent,
Tnvoca Deum ut dirigat nobis manna de
coelo’; et dixisset Christus, ‘Timete Deum
si estis fideles/ discipuli dixerunt, ‘Volu-
mus comedere illud, et credemus tibi et
sciemus quia verum locutus es nobis, et
testabimur quia Christus Deus es: dirige
manna de coelo, ut sit nobis festum
solemne, et posteris nostris signum ex te:
haec nobis tribue, quia tu es dator do-
norum.’ Et Deus dixit, ‘Dirigam illud
vobis’; quod postquam negavit, crucia-
verunt eum cruciatione qua nemo crucia-
tus fuit.
When the disciples said, O Jesus, Son
of Mary, is your Lord able to send down
to us a table from heaven? He said ‘Fear
Allah, if you are believers.’ They said,
‘We desire to eat thereof, that our hearts
may be at ease, and we shall know that
Thou hast spoken the truth to us, and we
shall be witnesses thereto/ Jesus, Son of
Mary, said — ‘Allahumma, our Lord,
Send down to us a table from heaven,
which will be to us a feast, to the first of
us and the last of us, and a sign from Thee.
Do Thou make provision for us, for Thou
art the best of providers/ Allah said, ‘I
shall send it down to you, but whoever of
you afterwards disbelieves, Him will I
punish with such a punishment as I have
never punished anyone in the world/
When he goes on to attribute this strange account of the Eucharist to a Nestorian
instructor — “ Et tamen hi sermones fuerunt Nestoriani cujusdam haeretici, non sane de
Christo sentientii , qui vos introduxit quasi ut aliquid de fide Christi intellegeretis, sed ut
est ratio et veritas vobis non demonstravit” he is alluding once again to the commonly
held idea that Muhammad was instructed in religion by a mentor from one of the
heretical sects.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
316
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
out of the land of Egypt” (Jer. XXXI, 31). What covenant
did He make with their fathers, if not that of which one is re-
minded by the blood of the lambs on the day of Easter, and
which He had given to be kept in the midst of their people?
(cf. Ex. XII, 21-28).
So if the Children, then, were preserved from destruction by
the blood of an unreasoning lamb, could not we be saved from
eternal death by the blood of the immaculate Lamb? Jesus
Christ, before His passion, took bread, which He blessed and
distributed to His disciples. He did the same with the cup
filled with wine. These He called His body and His blood, and
commanded that we take and drink thereof in remembrance of
Him, announcing thereby His death as the sacrifice of the Lamb,
innocent and pure, a sacrifice often announced in the Old Testa-
ment. The Holy Scriptures, which you certainly can never
have read, give Jesus different names, e.g. the Word, the Son,
the Ray, the image of God, the image of the servant, God, man,
angel, the Pearl, the Bait, Lord of Lords, the Servant, the
Lamb, the Sheep, the Shepherd, the eldest among Brethren,
the eldest among the dead, etc. Did I recognize in you one who
seeks only for justice, nothing would hinder me from giving for
each of these names a detailed exposition, indicating their true
sense, signification and extent.
Regarding circumcision, you pretend that we have replaced
it by baptism. The mystery of circumcision, whereby God
desired to treat of His covenant in this secret member and not
in others more visible and glorious, remains unknown to you,
it seems. Is it that you are also ignorant of the further circum-
stance, that Abraham before he was circumcised drew to him-
self the favor of God, and that he received the sign of circum-
cision only that it might serve as a sign of nothing other than
his attachment to God? As for the principal reason why this
secret member was chosen to serve this institution, you cannot
know it, as I observed above. As for us, we have not received
any command to circumcise our exterior members, but our
heart, in a spiritual manner, as in the above cited promises of
God announcing the reestablishment of a new covenant. In-
deed, if the true law of Jesus Christ, our Master, had not com-
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
317
pletely destroyed circumcision, as well as the Sabbath and the
sacrificial system, what new covenant could He be promising?
You, on the other hand, ought to be ashamed of the fact that
at so modern a time as ours, when God has delivered the human
race by breaking the bonds of the law, you announce yourself
as a defender of circumcision, and in so doing have covered it
with opprobrium. In the ancient law God ordered every male
to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth, whereas among
you, not only the males but also the females, 69 at no matter
what age, are exposed to this shameful operation.
As for the divine institution of Baptism, it was announced to
us by God long beforehand, through the Prophet Ezekiel, in
these words: “I will pour out clean water upon you and ye shall
be clean; I will cleanse you of all your uncleanness and all your
idols 55 (Ezek. XXXVI, 25). This same baptism Jesus Christ
commanded in His Gospel, saying to His disciples: “Go then,
and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit 55 (Matt. XXVIII,
19). By this was fulfilled the prediction of the Prophet — “I
have established thee as a light to the peoples 55 and “the people
that was sitting in darkness has seen a great light 55 (Isa. XLII,
6; IX, 2).
Nor have we substituted Sunday for the Sabbath, as you
pretend, without having reflected that among yourselves the
Friday has been set as the day for reunion, without any reason
being apparent that can justify the choice. As for us, we as-
semble on the day of the resurrection of our Saviour, who there-
by has promised us resurrection, to say our prayers, and render
thanks to the Creator for so great a mystery. This is the day
69 Chahnazarian has a note about this charge of Leo’s that among Muslims the
females also are circumcised, saying that he had not been able to find any ancient author
who tells of this, so that he judges that what is said on this matter in Greek and Ar-
menian authors must be put down either to inexact information, or to prejudice and
enmity. The practice is, however, well evidenced among Muslim peoples, though
neither male nor female circumcision is referred to in the Qur’an. In the famous story
in the Arabian Nights, entitled “The Muslim Champion and the Christian Maid,” for
example, we read — “so he expounded to her the tenets of the Faith of Islam, and she
became a Muslima, after which she was circumcised, and he taught her the ritual
prayers.” There is a discussion of the practice as applied both to boys and girls in the
Musnad of Aljmad b. IJanbal, V, 75.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
318
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
on which the Creator at the beginning said — “Let there be
light, and there was light.” It was on the same day that the
light of the good news of the resurrection of human kind
shone forth by the resurrection of the Word and of the only-
begotten Son of God in His human body. For the rest we have
received no other command to cease work therein, or as the
Jews, not to prepare our food. Yet for what reason do you,
who manifest such incredulity, whether as regards the Prophets
or as regards our Saviour, attach so much importance to the
genuine traditions of the Christians? I imagine that it was
for you and such as resemble you that God said by His prophet :
“regard, you outrageous people, and you will be outraged and
reduced yourselves. I am about to undertake in your times, a
work at which you would not believe if one told you thereof”
(Habak.1,5).
Nor have I forgotten the objection raised by you in these
terms: “How is it possible for God to dwell in the womb of
a woman, in the midst of blood and flesh and dirt.” 70 I sup-
70 The objection to the incarnation is not generally put as grossly as it is by ‘Umar,
but it was a common objection. In the Latin 321a the objection is put — quomodo Deus
potuit ingredi in ventrem mulieris , tenebrosum et angustum et fetidum , and the reply is
given that the sun every day sends its rays down into all sorts of filth and ordures, yet
far from being defiled thereby, it on the contrary cleanses everything. It then continues
with the illustration of the “burning bush” (Exod. Ill, 2-4), adding — nonne melius
erat corpus Virginis quam ilia spina rubi? Very curiously the Latin thinks that Moses
was given the Law from the fire in the bush, obviously confusing the call at Horeb to go
and liberate the Children of Israel, with the flame of fire at Sinai at the giving of the
Law — qui ingressus in rubo qui erat in monte Sinai , et locutus est servo suo Moysi , et
legem ei dedit. This is the more curious as the Qur’an keeps the two events quite dis-
tinct, the experience of the bush being at the vale Tuwa (XX, 9-35; LXXIX, 16), and
the giving of the law at Sinai (VII, 138-142).
The objection, of course, arises from the indignant denial oft repeated in the Qur’an,
that the eternal God could have had a son, or daughters as the pagan Arabs asserted.
The Latin 319a quotes in this connection Sura III, 40, where the birth of Jesus is
said to be “a word from Him: His name shall be Messiah,” but curiously says the an-
nouncement was to Zachariah, getting it mixed up with Sura XIX, 7, the succeeding
verses of which also tell of the annunciation to Mary. In 320a, again, in speaking of
Mary as Mariam quam elegerat, there is apparently a reference to III, 37, where Mary
is twice referred to as “chosen” by Allah. In 320c the reference to the Jews dicentes
blasphemiae verba ad Mariam matrem ejus, cui pudor castitatis inerat , is doubtless to
Sura IV, 155, where the Jews are upbraided for having “spoken against Mary a grievous
calumny.” The writer, however, has slipped in his further reference — et secundum
vestrum sensum , Judaei intelligentes de Christo , persequentes et comprehendentes , eum
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
319
pose that you know that there is a multitude of things God has
created by His simple command, as Psalm CXLVIII assures us
in these words — “He commanded and they were created. He
has established them for ever and ever.” Amongst these figures
the sky with its sun, moon and other stars, celestial bodies, and
the earth with its vegetation, and the animals. All these beings,
it appears, occupy in your thought an eminently superior place,
and seem purer and more precious than man, who, though con-
sidered by you as an impure being, was nevertheless created,
not by a simple command, as these above-mentioned things,
but by the all-powerful hand of God, and animated by His
breath. Consequently human nature, created by the holy
hand of the Creator, and honored by Him with resemblance to
Him, cannot be a filthy thing in His sight. Do not, then, offer
insults to the good Creator, in whose eyes nothing of all that
has been created by Him is unclean, save only sin, which not
only was not created by Him in man, but was not even ordained.
On the contrary, there is nothing more precious than man, for
whom all things were created. God then, who has so honored
man by creating him in His image, would not think it shameful
to take man’s image in order to save him, since, as I have said,
there is nothing unclean in human nature save sin, and all those
things in man which you consider filthy, have been organized
so by God for our good. For example, the menses of the female
serve in the reproduction of the human species, and the evacua-
tion of the excesses of food and drink serve for the conservation
of our life. It is you alone who consider them impure, whereas
in the eyes of God it is pillage, assassination, blasphemy and
other such crimes, which are considered as defiling, rather than
those things above-mentioned which are designed for the pur-
pose of reproduction and the conservation of human life.
Beyond all that I have brought up so far, I have yet to ob-
serve to you another matter, namely, that if the bush flaming
with divine fire at the time of Moses, was not consumed, man
must be considered as more precious than a bush, and than all
created things, for it is of holy men that God said: “I will dwell
crudfixerunt , for IV, 156 expressly states, “But they slew Him not, nor crucified Him,
but only one in His likeness.”
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
320
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
in their midst” (Ezek. XLIII, 7), and again, “In whom will
I dwell if not in men kindly and humble, and in those who fear
My words?” (Isa. LXVI, 2). It is here clearly to be seen that
God calls just men His habitation, and that He is not offended
by their natural infirmities, which you call filthiness, since it
befits the ever-living to have a living temple.
I submit to you also the following proposition, and the more
willingly, as I perceive you to be envious of the glory of the
saints of God and their relics, that God declared to be His
dwelling. If God cares for all the bones of the human race in
view of the general resurrection, how should He not take special
care for those of His saints, of whom He has more than once
spoken in such glorious and majestic terms, above all of those
who have suffered death in His cause? It is of these martyrs
that the Holy Spirit says by the mouth of David that “every
kind of death of the beloved of the Eternal is precious in His
sight” (Ps. CXVI, 15), and in another passage: “The just has
ills in great number, but the Eternal delivers him from them all.
He guards all his bones, and not one of them is broken” (Ps.
XXXIV, 19-20). The divine powder that dwells in His saints
affirms that their bones will not be broken, yet we know that a
great number of saints’ bones have been ground to powder or
by the fire reduced to ashes. As for you, child that you are,
occupied with things that are visible, you do not think of that
at all. The Holy Spirit speaks further in another passage:
“God is marvellous to His saints,” and Solomon speaks in these
terms: “The just will live eternally and will receive their recom-
pense from their Saviour. Only in the eyes of the impious are
they dead, for they enjoy repose” (Wisd. Ill, 1, 2; V, 16). I pre-
sume that you are not ignorant of that history of the uncir-
cumcised stranger, whose corpse, so soon as it was cast into
“the sepulchre of the Prophet Elias and had touched his bones,
came back to life, and rose upon his feet” (II Ki. XIII, 21).
Now, if divine power did not reside in the bones of the holy
Prophet, how could those of a simple dead man be able to revive
a corpse? Thus we see that the living God does not consider
that He is defiled by dwelling in the tomb of a dead person, for
God judges of men in a way different from our judgment. Yet
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
321
what respect for the saints could one expect from you, when I
see you, even now, excited by a species of fanaticism worthy of
a pagan, exercising such cruelties towards the faithful of God,
with the purpose of converting them to apostasy, and putting
to death all those who resist your designs, so that daily is ac-
complished that prediction of our Saviour: “The time will come
when everyone who puts you to death will believe that he is
serving God” (John XVI, 2). For you are far from thinking
that in killing all those who resist you, you are putting your-
self to an eternal death. It is thus that Muhammad, your
uncle, 71 acted aforetime, when on the very day he went to im-
molate the profane sacrifice of a camel, at the same time had
decapitated a number of Christians, servants of God, and
mingled their blood with that of the animal which was offered
in sacrifice. Yet you are annoyed when we gather together the
remains of the martyrs who have sealed the profession of their
faith by their blood, so that we may bury them in places con-
secrated to God.
Further, in your letter are some words apropos of the Cross 72
71 The reference is to ‘Umar’s uncle Muhammad b. Marwan, whom Leo would have
known only too well, for it was he who in the year 75 A.H. = 694 A.D. led the summer
campaign which resulted in the severe defeat of the Byzantines at Mar‘ash, Leo’s own
home (Baladhuri, Futuh, 188). He was also the general governing Armenia under the
Caliphate of his brother ‘Abd al-Malik (ibid. 205), and under his successor al-Walld I,
and had the task of putting down the Armenian rebellion which took advantage of the
insurrection of Ibn az-Zubair to make a bid for freedom. His cruelties and evil deeds
in Armenia had already been dealt with at length by Ghevond earlier in his book.
72 It was very natural for the Caliph to raise an objection to Christian veneration
of the Cross. In Muslim tradition as to the Last Day we find an account of how Jesus
will return before the end and become a Muslim, and among the particular acts He
will then perform is that of breaking all the crosses, the reason, of course, being that
the cross is an offence to the Muslims. We have early attestation of Christians being
reproved for their veneration of the Cross.
The veneration of saints and relics, and the use of pictures and images, are part of
the regular arsenal of later Muslim polemical writers, but they must have been sub-
jects of controversy and discussion in Leo’s day, when the Iconoclastic controversy
was raging, so that it is not surprising to see them appear in the Caliph’s letter.
The Latin 322a in dealing with this problem inserts the tale of Constantine’s vision
of the Cross in whose sign he should conquer, and the subsequent journey of his mother
Helena to Jerusalem to seek out the Cross which the Jews had hidden, with the miracle
whereby the true cross was revealed, and the Church was built over the sepulchre.
The form of the legend as he gives it is very close to that discussed by Tixeront, Les
Origines de l’eglise d’Edesse et de la legende d’Abgar (Paris, 1888), 170-174.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
322
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
and pictures. We honor the Cross because of the sufferings of
that Word of God incarnate borne thereon, as we have learned
from a commandment given by God to Moses, and from the
predictions of the Prophets. The metal plate which Moses,
bidden by God, placed on the forehead of the pontiff or high
priest, bore the image of a cross having the form of a living
being, 73 and it is in imitation of this sign that we Christians
sign our foreheads with the cross, as of the Word of God who
suffered for us in His human nature. The Prophet Isaiah even
indicates the wood out of which that Cross should be made, the
sublime crown in which the Church for ever glories. “The fir
tree, the pine and the box together, to render honourable the
place of My sanctuary; and I will render glorious the place of
My feet” (Isa. LX, 13). Solomon speaks thus of it: “Blessed
be the wood by which justice is exercised” (Wisd. XIV, 7) and
in another place says: “It is the tree of life for all those who
embrace it, and who attach themselves solidly to it as to the
Lord” (Prov. Ill, 18).
As for pictures, we do not give them a like respect, not having
received in Holy Scripture any commandment whatsoever in
regard to this. Nevertheless, finding in the Old Testament
that divine command which authorized Moses to have executed
in the tabernacle the figures of the Cherubim, and animated by
a sincere attachment for the disciples of the Lord, who burned
with love for the Saviour Himself, we have always felt a desire
to conserve their images, which have come down to us from their
times as their living representation. Their presence charms us,
and we glorify God who has saved us by the intermediary of His
only-begotten Son, who appeared in the world in a similar
figure, and we glorify the saints. But as for the wood and the
colors, we do not give them any reverence. But you, do you
feel no shame to have venerated that House that is called the
Ka‘ba, the dwelling of Abraham, which as a matter of fact
73 This is the tsits of Exod. XXVIII, 36-38, and of which we have divergent de-
scriptions by Josephus, Ant. Ill, vii, 6 and BJ. V, v, 7, and which, as evidenced also by
Philo and the Letter of Aristeas, seems to have had on it the name of God engraved;
but this idea that it had on it some foreshadowing of the crucifix, seems a Byzantine
conceit.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
323
Abraham never saw nor so much as dreamed of, in its diabolical
arid desert? This House was existing long before Muhammad,
and was the object of a cult among your fellow citizens, while
Muhammad, far from abolishing it, called it the dwelling of
Abraham. 74 In order not to appear to wrongfully give you
offence, I shall prove (its diabolical nature), by passages from
the Holy Gospel and from your own history. Jesus Christ often
drove out demons into that very desert. “He (the demon) goes
by the desert places” (Matt. XII, 43). These unclean spirits
appear to you there sometimes under serpent form, 75 and some-
times they seem to indulge in evil relations with women, ac-
cording to their custom, giving the appearance of making
marriages. You, deceived by the illusion, and imprudently
falling into the net, make yourselves their compeers here below
and in the world to come, so far are you from understanding
that in the other world it is forbidden them, by command
of the Saviour, to have such commerce. 76 Jesus Christ fettered
here below their revolting violence, and though, like their
father Satan, they are constantly malevolent, yet they cannot
openly cause harm to anyone, since if they dared to do this,
or were able, they would inevitably have destroyed you as by
fire in a single day. As it is they are able to do no more than
draw you, by occult machinations, to the loss of your souls.
For example, by means of a stone that is called rukn , 77 that you
adore without knowing why; by means of that carnage of de-
mons, from which the birds and the beasts flee with all haste
and extreme aversion; by means of the stones cast, the flight,
74 See note 62. This reply to the charge of veneration of the Cross etc. by a counter-
charge of Muslim veneration of the Ka‘ba, is commonly used, as e.g. by John of Da-
mascus in PG, XCIV, 769.
75 The story of the serpent connection with the Ka‘ba is curious, cf. Ibn Hisham
(Sira, ed. Wustenfeld, p. 122).
76 He seems to be referring in this passage to the “jinn,” who in Muslim thought have
a kind of intermediate place between angels and men, being made of fire, whereas angels
were made of light and men and animals of clay. These jinn are of two sexes, inhabit
the space between the earth and the vault of heaven, take on various forms, and have
relations with human kind, as is frequently illustrated by the tales of the Arabian
Nights.
77 This rokounn is the Arabic rukn , a name for the Black Stone, which is kissed by
the pilgrims during the rites of circumambulation of the Ka‘ba.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
324
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
the having your head shaven, and other such ridiculous super-
stitions . 78 Nor do I wish to pass over in silence the abominable
authorization given you by your legislator to have with your
wives a commerce that he has compared, I am ashamed to say,
to the tilling of fields. As a consequence of this licence, a goodly
number of you have contracted the habit of multiplying their
commerce with women, as if it were a question of tilling fields . 79
Nor can I forget the chastity of your Prophet and the manner
full of artifice whereby he succeeded in seducing the woman
Zeda . 80 Of all these abominations the worst is that of accusing
God of being the originator of all these filthy acts, which fact
has doubtless been the cause of the introduction among your
compatriots of this disgusting law. Is there indeed a worse
blasphemy than that of alleging that God is the cause of all
this evil ? 81 As for the example of David, who took Uriah’s
wife, as you remind me, it is well known that therein he com-
mitted a sin before the Eternal, for which he was grievously
punished.
To sum up, the fact is that your legislator and all of you con-
tinue to resist the truth. In this you do well, for I know noth-
ing worse than not holding sin to be such as it is, and that is
78 All the references in this last paragraph are to the various ceremonies connected
with the annual Pilgrimage, The ‘‘carnage of demons” refers to the sacrifice of animals
at Mina; the casting of stones refers to the “stoning of the satans” on the 10th of
Dhu’l-IJijja on the return from the visit to ‘Arafat; the “flight” probably refers to the
traversing of the Wadi Muhassir after leaving Muzdalifa, for this passage is directed to
be done in speed. The head is shaven after the pilgrimage sacrifice has been killed, and
in a measure restores the pilgrim to the freedom of normal life.
79 Sura II, 223 — “Your women are to you as cultivated fields ( harth ); come then
to your cultivated fields as you wish, but send forward something for yourselves,” a
verse which greatly exercised the Commentators.
80 Zedai is apparently a mistake for Zainab, the wife of Zaid, the Prophet’s adopted
son, who divorced her that the Prophet, who had been attracted by her charms, might
marry her. It is curious that Bartholomew of Edessa 1420b calls Muhammad’s sixth
wife Zaire, which is very much the same as this Zeda of the Armenian text.
81 What is in his mind is the fact that in the last resort the Muslim line of defence
is that these things were commanded by Allah, who in the Qur’an is represented as ex-
plicitly settling these matters, as for example the case of Zainab above mentioned. To
the thought of the Muslim, of course, David’s action with Bathsheba and Uriah would
also have been under divine direction, since David was a Prophet, and it would seem as
though ‘Umar had made that point in his correspondence with the Emperor.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
325
what you really do in never seeking nor receiving pardon . 82 In
the Gospel God has commanded the husband not to repudiate
the wife save for the cause of adultery, but you act quite other-
wise. When you are tired of your wives, as of some kind of
nourishment, you abandon them at your fancy. It had been
my intention to conceal, if possible, the shamelessness with
which you remarry, and how before retaking your repudiated
wives you make them sleep in the bed of another . 83 And what
82 Apparently there is here a reference to the characteristic doctrine of Fate, which
holds that every action of man, even the least, whether of good or evil, was decreed
before his birth, so that no act can really be labelled a sin to be repented of, since it was
decreed beforehand that it should happen so, and what sense is there in seeking pardon
for doing what we only did in accordance with Allah’s decree?
The Latin 324a takes this up in somewhat different words — si ita est y non est illi
gratia si bonum operetur , neque peccatum si male operetur; quia non ille operator, sed
quod praescriptum et praeordinatum est illi antequam nasceretur. Nam si ita est , ut
cuilibet homini sit praescriptum antequam nascatur , ergo Deus impie videtur egisse.
The Qur’anic passages usually quoted in this connection are LIV, 52, 53; XCI, 7, 8;
XVII, 14, i.e. the passages concerning the decree, and the passages where Allah as-
serts that whom He will He guides and whom He will He leads astray (XIV, 4; XVI, 38,
etc.). It is this question which is being raised by John of Damascus in PG, XCIV,
1589c, 1592a, and Bartholomew of Edessa (PG, CIV, 1393b) draws from this idea the
conclusion that God must be held finally responsible for both good and evil, as in our
Latin.
83 The marriage laws of the Qur’an are a frequent cause of adverse comment in the
Christian polemical writings, as witness John of Damascus 769c and the tractate
Contra Muhammad, 1452a. The charge of ease of divorce is based on Sura II, 227 ff.;
that of plural marriages on Sura IV, 29; and the particular regulation that a man may
not retake his divorced wife till she has cohabited with another man, on II, 230. The
Latin 323a not only makes the point that this regulation in II, 230 violates both the
Gospel, which says (Matt. V, 32; XIX, 9) that he who takes the wife put away by
another is an adulterer, and the Law, where in Deut. XXIV, 1-4 the regulation is that
if a man wishes to retake a wife whom he has put away he can only do this if no one
else has touched her in the meantime, but on 322d makes the further point that whereas
the Muslims have a law forbidding them to salute those of another faith (apparently
referring to Sura VI, 54), yet they are permitted to take wives of the women of any
faith, and in refusing to pray at the grave of such a non-Muslim wife they are really
going contrary to their own law, which in II, 59 declares that all who are faithful, to
whatsoever religion it may be, are with God. The usual Muslim burial service, of
course, assumes that the corpse is that of a believer, and could not be used for a person
of another faith, but Leo’s idea of refusal to pray at the grave of an unbeliever is prob-
ably based on the Qur’anic passage IX, 85 — “Pray not thou ever over any one of
them who has died, nor stand at his grave, for they disbelieved in Allah and His Apostle,
and died while they were reprobates,” where the prohibition was probably meant for
that particular occasion (whether referring to the laggards at Hudaibiyya or Tabuk),
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
326
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
shall I say of the execrable debauchery which you commit with
your concubines? For you are prodigal with them of all your
fortune, and then, when you are tired of them you sell them like
dumb cattle. It is said that the serpent has intimate relations
with the murines , the reptile of the sea, but on arriving at the
seashore the serpent spits out its venom before entering on its
love affair. But you are more venomous than the serpent,
never putting any limits to your bad faith, and not being able
to satisfy your unleashed passions while still alive, at the hour
of your death you violently put to death your wives, following
the inspiration of the evil spirit.
In speaking of Satan and the souls of the just, you pretend
that we have represented the former as the treasurer of God.
That is an error. We say, on the contrary, that Satan was most
happy at seeing humanity, in the horror caused it by death,
plunge into the depths of despair, for he believed the just to
be abandoned by God, and lost after death. Filled with this
thought, and struck by the extreme humiliation of Christ, He
believed that He also would be subject to the condition of men,
and so incited His disciple to betray Him, and the Jews to put
Him to death. But when he saw the Saviour walk willingly
towards the sufferings of the cross, he was seized with horror,
and in order to hinder the salvation of the human race, he at-
tempted to terrify by remorse the wife of the judge (Pilate).
In spite of his artifices, however, the Word of God tasted death
in His human nature, while remaining in His divine nature
always immortal, though inseparable from His humanity, and
as true God engendered from true God. He rose again, or
rather resuscitated His human nature, in accord with what was
said by the Prophet David: “Let God arise and His enemies will
be dispersed 55 (Ps. LXVIII, 1), and according to another pre-
diction made by one of the twelve Prophets.
The Word of God being thus resuscitated, less for Himself,
since He was Spirit, immortal and incorruptible, than for the
human race whose nature He had taken upon Himself, He as-
sured by this resurrection the resurrection of men, and rendered
and referred to Muhammad’s participating in the pagan Arabian customs connected
with burial, but has been taken as a prohibition of general import.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
327
certain the hope that the dead, delivered from the influence of
the spiritual enemy, will be reclothed in new bodies, since souls
obtain many graces from the Creator by the incarnation of
His Word.
It is thus then that Satan, enfeebled, lost and led along by
his own despair, and that of his legions, sees himself at last
reduced to the impossibility of leading any longer the world
to those cults which are strange and contrary to the will of God.
So he has nothing to expect but the punishment of the eternal
fire.
Now it is time for me to explain to you this vision of Isaiah,
where a rider appears to him mounted on an ass and a camel. 84
The sense is this. The aspect of the maritime desert indicates
that it is your desert situated by the side of the sea, a neighbor
to and a boundary of Babylonia. Presently the Prophet says
that he sees two riders mounted the one on an ass and the other
on a camel. Those two riders are really only one and the same,
as the Prophet himself clearly affirms in the passage itself.
Under the name of “ass” the Prophet means the Jewish people,
which, although it has read the Law and the prophecies, yet
influenced by the teaching of Satan, has refused to submit and
accept the Gospel destined to save the universe. It is this dis-
obedience of the Jewish people that the same Prophet com-
plains of at the commencement of his book — “The ox knows
his owner, and the ass the crib of his master, but Israel has not
known” (Isa. I, 3). Under the name “camel,” the Prophet
designates the Midianites and the Babylonians, because among
you these animals are very common. And the same enemy who
led the Jews into error, under the pretext of conserving the Law,
has made you also fall into idolatry. I have said above that
84 The passage is Isa. XXI, 6, 7 as it stands in the Peshitta text, and in it the Caliph
is advancing one of the most famous cases of Old Testament passages in which the
Muslims have found prophecies of the coming of Muhammad. Their case is that the
watchman in his vision sees two prophets who are yet to come, and hears a great and
long speech. The one whom he sees riding on an ass is Jesus, and was fulfilled at the
entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (Matt. XXI), while the one riding on a camel is Muham-
mad, and was fulfilled at the Hijra, when Muhammad left unbelieving Mecca and went
by camel to Madina, where he organized his community. The great and long speech
is a reference to the Qur’an, the sublime eloquence of which Muhammad was to bring
to his people.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
328
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
the two riders really represent only one and the same man, as
the Prophet lets us know immediately after by saying: “I saw
the same horseman who came mounted on two steeds. Lo, the
horseman who appeared two before was only one, and mounted
on two horses/ 5 85 He designates by these two horses the Jews
and the pagans dominated by him. Whence then comes this
man? What does he say? He comes mounted on two horses,
and cries at the top of his voice — “Babylon is fallen, and its
works have been overturned. 55 It was then the enemy who
deplored its desolation, and who, not finding any refuge other
than your desert, has led to you the two horses of his iniquity,
that is to say, the inconstancy of the Jews and the debauchery
of the pagans. By the aid of these two elements he finally suc-
ceeded, by occult means rather than by the exercise of force, in
drawing you into his error. It is thus that he has got you to
circumcise yourselves, yet without admitting the divinity of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, the creators and sanctifiers.
As for divination and knowledge of the future, and as to
demons who lead only to the torments of hell, 86 you have the
same faith in them as the pagans, whose abominable debauch-
eries are familiar to you. You call “the Way of God 55 87 these
devastating raids which bring death and captivity to all peoples.
Behold your religion and its recompence. Behold your glory,
ye who pretend to live an angelic life. As for us, instructed in
and convinced of the marvellous mystery of our redemption,
we hope, after our resurrection, to enjoy the celestial kingdom,
so we are submissive to the doctrines of the Gospel, and wait
humbly for a happiness such that “eyes have never seen it, nor
ears ever heard it, but which God has prepared for those who
love Him 55 (I Cor. II, 9). We do not hope to find there springs
of wine, honey or milk. We do not expect to enjoy there com-
merce with women who remain for ever virgin, and to have
children by them, for we put no faith in such silly tales engen-
85 This is a very free paraphrase of the LXX text, taking first the avafiaras LTnrels
dbo of v. 7, and then the avaficiTrjs crvvcopLdos of v. 9.
86 Here again the reference would seem to be to the belief in jinn.
87 This represents the Qur’anic sabil Allah , and since Allah summoned the Muslims
to strive and fight “in the way of Allah,” the military expeditions for the spread of
Islam were said to be ft sabil Allah , whence the reference here.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
329
dered by extreme ignorance and by paganism. Far from us be
such dreams, such fables. “The kingdom of God consisteth
not in eating and drinking” (Rom. XIV, 17), as saith the Holy
Spirit, “but in justice,” and “at the resurrection men will not
marry women, nor women men, but they shall be as the angels”
(Matt. XXII, 30). For you who are given up to carnal vices,
and who have never been known to limit the same, you who
prefer your pleasures to any good, it is precisely for that reason
that you consider the celestial realm of no account if it is not
peopled with women. 88
Behold the short reply that I address to you. For the sake
of our unshakable and imperishable faith we have endured at
your hands, and will still endure, much suffering. We are even
prepared to die, if only to bring to ourselves the name of “saint,”
a name precious and incomparable, as predicted by Isaiah:
“You will bear a new name that the Lord will give you” (Isa.
LXII, 2). The Lord Himself, when He was upon earth, told
us beforehand of these sufferings, saying to us — “If they have
persecuted Me they will persecute you also; if they have kept
My word they will keep yours also; they will do all these things
to you for My name’s sake, because they have not known Him
that sent Me” (John XV, 20, 21) ; and again, “you will weep and
you will lament” (John XVI, 20). Jesus Christ in His prayer
addressed to the Father, said: “They were Thine, and Thou
didst give them to Me. . . . They are not of the world, as I
am not of the world” (John XVII, 6, 16), “if ye had been of the
world the world would love that which belongs to it; but be-
cause you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, for that reason the world hates you” (John XV, 19).
Because such is our hope you continually menace us, you
strike us with death, but we respond not to your blows with
anything other than patience, for we count on neither our arm
nor our sword to save us, but on the right arm of the Lord, and
on the light of His face. Should He will it we are prepared to
suffer still more in this world, so as to be recompensed in the
88 This question of the “heavenly spouses” (Sura XLIII, 70; XXXVI, 56; LV, 70 ff.;
XXXVII, 47) was continually raised in the Christian controversial writings, as indeed,
the whole Qur’anic picture of a sensuous Paradise.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
330
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
world to come. Yea, let Him fix the hour and the mode of the
torture, we are ready prepared.
As for you, persisting in your tyranny and your usurpations,
you attribute to your religion the success with which heaven
favors you. You forget that the Persians also prolonged their
tryanny for 400 years. 89 What was the reason for so long a
reign? God alone knows; but surely it was not because of the
purity of their religion. As for us, we accept with eagerness all
the sufferings and all the tortures which can happen to us for
the glorious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, so
that we may arrive at the happiness of the future world with
all those who have loved to see the coming of the great day of
Judgment of God, for the praise and glory of His well-beloved.
May we be worthy to contemplate then with them the unique
divinity of the Father, the Word His unique Son, and His Holy
Spirit, now and for ever. Amen. 90
The Emperor Leo sent this response by one of his intimate
officers to ‘Umar, sovereign of the Arabs. After having read
it, the Caliph was very confused. This letter produced on him
a very happy effect. From this moment he commenced to treat
the Christians with much kindness. He ameliorated their state,
and showed himself very favorable towards them, so that on all
hands were heard expressions of thankfulness to him. As I
have before mentioned, he gave entire liberty to the captives,
and gave back to them their effects without demanding any
ransom. He showed himself also much more generous to his
own subjects than any of his predecessors. He distributed to
the troops great sums of money, which till then had been stored
up in the coffers of the treasury. After all these beneficent acts
he died.
The question remains as to the genuineness of this corre-
89 The 400 years of Persian tyranny must refer to the Sassanian rule, which lasted
from 226 A.D. when Ardashir succeeded in establishing the new national Persian
dynasty on the throne in place of the Parthian Arsacids, till 652, when Yazdagird III
was killed by the Muslims after the battle of Nihavend. Since the rule of the Sassanians
virtually came to an end during the Arab invasions during the reign of Ardashir III
(628-630), Leo’s 400 years is a correct enough figure.
90 This conclusion may be the padding of the monkish editor rather than the actual
ending of the Emperor’s letter.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
GHEVOND’S TEXT
331
spondence, and that really is a matter for the historians to
argue on the basis of the material itself. The fact that both
Byzantine and Oriental writers know of the correspondence,
and apparently know of it independently, may indicate a
probability that there was such an exchange of correspondence
on religious matters, as well as that on political matters for
which we have Muslim evidence. That we have no Muslim
evidence as yet to this religious correspondence is no serious
objection, since so much of the early Muslim material is still
unpublished. One has only to think of the new light on many
little points already shed by the recent start at the publication
of the historical works of Baladhurl and Ibn ‘Asakir, to realize
that we might well find reference to this in Muslim sources
were more of them available to us. However, even if it were
established that there had been an exchange of such letters
between the two potentates, it would not follow that this text
of Ghevond is the authentic text of Leo’s side of that corre-
spondence. There are only too many instances of where en-
thusiastic writers have invented the text of documents they
knew must have existed, so that Christian writers might quite
as well have produced what they would have us believe was the
text of Leo’s letter to ‘Umar, as Muslim writers have produced
what they would have us believe is the text of Muhammad’s
letters to the surrounding potentates.
We have to bear in mind, however, that we have a Latin
text in the West, and an Armenian text in the East, neither of
which is derivable from the other, and both of which obviously
depend on a common body of original material. The Scripture
quotations in Ghevond seem conclusive evidence that that origi-
nal was in Greek, and the Armenian forms of some of the proper
names also suggest that Ghevond read them, not in their
Arabic form, but in Greek. While there is no denying that
Ghevond has padded his material here and there, it seems clear
enough that he was using an account of the correspondence and
not creating it himself. To the present writer there seems suf-
ficient evidence in his style to show that in these chapters he is
translating and not freely composing as he is in the later chap-
ters, though more profound Armenian scholars may disagree as
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
332
HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
to this. A Greek original to provide a basis both for Ghevond
in the East and the Latin in the West, could not have been com-
posed very long after Leo’s own time, if it were a later compila-
tion and not the genuine correspondence.
The next step would seem to be to compare this material
with the other correspondence of Leo on theological matters,
but the present writer has no opportunity for that task, so he
must be content for the moment to present this material as it
is, in the hope that someone more fortunate may be able to
make that comparison and add one more argument for or
against its genuineness.
But whether it is the genuine correspondence of Leo with
‘Umar or not, it is a sufficiently early document in the literature
of Muslim-Christian controversy to provide extremely impor-
tant evidence on the subjects of controversy and the methods
of controversy prior to the well-known works of the later cen-
turies, and as such is deserving of the consideration of students
interested in that little explored but not unimportant branch of
theological learning.
This content downloaded on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:21:39 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11